The Past is Bound by Love
by quail58
Summary: Rin lives between the Feudal and the Modern Era, and her choices, as well as Sesshomaru's, will affect both her past and her future. And demon courting politics will be the biggest cause for change.
1. The Modern Era

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Warning!: I have put some swear words in here, hence the T rating.

--

"Finished!" a soon to be eighteen year old Rin cried aloud. She leaned back in her desk chair admiring the thing she had just finished. "Are you done with the illustrations yet?" she asked turning to a now twenty-five year old Kagome sitting at the next desk.

Not even looking up Kagome grunted, "I cannot keep up with you."

"That's because I have the easier job." Rin beamed a bright smile that lit up the room. She started to pick up the litter of papers on the desk she was using. Kagome stared at her current drawing intently, "I'm always impressed by your ability to make Sesshomaru out to be a good character in your stories."

"That certainly is not how I feel about him. If any of the children ever figure out that this silly story is about a real person, or should I say demon, then they'll at least think better of him than I do. Why did I decide to tell the girls stories about my past?"

"Because they don't know it's true, and the rest of it is a pretty good made up story." She put down the silver coloring pencil after coloring in Sesshomaru's hair. She then picked up a magenta pencil and started coloring in the stripes on his cheeks.

Rin fell silent and her face became impassive. She did this every time she became sad because Sesshomaru had always taught her that showing sorrow was a weakness that enemies would love to expose. "I find it interesting that I can write love stories about a guy who tossed me away when I was younger but can't get a boyfriend of my own."

"You know that Souta likes you, right?" Kagome asked her with a large smile on her face. Rin had known for a long time that Souta did have a crush on her and that it was everyone intentions to marry her off to him.

Rin sighed before complaining, "Why does everyone seem to think that Souta and I are going to work out? We may be the same age, but I've been through so much more than him. Hell, I don't even like it in this time period." The look Kagome was giving her after her last sentence told her that she, first of all, shouldn't have been swearing, and, second of all, was not up for discussion. Not that it really mattered anyway because there would be no way for her to cross over to the Feudal Era since the Shikon no Tama was now gone.

Rin could hear Kagome's children racing around the first floor with Inuyasha chasing after them cursing. Kagome was obviously agitated by both her children and her husband, so Rin found it easier to escape. "I'm going to head home." She slipped out of the room and quickly to the front door. Once outside she ran away from the shrine house they lived in and down the stairs.

She was not in a hurry to get home. They probably didn't miss her right now anyway. She was just the kid they adopted because Inuyasha refused to take her in. Kagome had tried so hard to convince him that he had to keep his promise to Sesshomaru to take care of her, but he kept contending that Rin was too much like Sesshomaru for his comfort.

Besides, Sango was only nine years older than her, and Miroku only eleven years older than her. That hardly qualified them as parents. Sometimes it felt like they were more her friends than her parents. And of course she could never forget the fact that they had children of their own the they treated so much better than they treated her. It wasn't that they beat her like the villagers had; it was just that they never noticed her around. They spent all of their time and energy on their children and their all too public sex life and had nothing left for her.

When Rin got in the door she heard Miroku's voice calling out to her, "Is that you, Rin?"

"Yeah," Rin yelled back to him. She slid her shoes off and walked into the living room to find him and Sango quickly redressing themselves. The children must have just been put to bed because they didn't seem to be too upset about being interrupted. "Kagome wants you over there around five tomorrow."

"Okay," Sango said before squealing from the sensation of Miroku's touch on her rear end. Rin rolled her eyes and then ran up the stairs and slammed her door behind her. She turned on her radio to drown out any sound that might be coming from the living room.

--

"Rin, hurry up," Sesshomaru commanded her. She looked up at him and approached the waiting figure. They walked along in silence, side-by-side with Jaken walking behind them squawking about his unwillingness to go back to Sesshomaru's castle because of Rin. Rin smiled at the thought and put a hand on her slightly swollen belly. When she looked up at Sesshomaru's face she could see his eyes watching her with tenderness in them.

Rin shot up in her bed. Looking around she realized she was still in the Modern Era and the sun was just starting to rise. For the past month she had been having dreams about being back in the Feudal Era with Sesshomaru. This dream was different from all of the other dreams because this was the first dream she had been happy in.

She wished more than anything that she could tell her best friend, but that just wasn't possible because Midori couldn't know about her past. Even Rin had to admit that sometimes she felt like she needed to be locked away for believing any of it existed. No, unfortunately the only people she could ask were Sango and Kagome. This Saturday, like every Saturday, the two families were going to get together for dinner and a movie or a game. This wouldn't be the best opportunity to talk about her dreams since the children and the men could overhear, but she just had to ask soon or go crazy from not knowing.

Unfortunately when she got there she realized there was no way to get the women alone. Thankfully she was able to get the adults alone when children decided to play soccer in the backyard, leaving the adults to wait for Inuyasha to finish grilling, or rather burning, the hotdogs and hamburgers. Rin knew that this might be the only time she would have to ask at all that night, so she started speaking in English to keep the children from understanding what they were saying, "Why did Sesshomaru tell you to take me with you?"

She watched as they stiffened. They always had tried to make Rin forget that day. Finally Sango spoke up, "He wanted you to grow up with humans. He knew us, and he knew that we were going to a safer time period."

"Did he think it was wrong for him to raise a human?" In some ways she wanted to hear them say "yes", to know that he was doing what he thought best instead of discarding her like they always made it sound like. But they wouldn't change their tune any time, especially now that they had designs to have her married off to Souta.

Inuyasha was beginning to lose his temper, "Look, my brother hated anything that wasn't a demon like him! He even hated demons that were weak. I don't know why he even brought you back in the first place, but he always despised you. Just forget about him because none of us want to remember him anymore!" Kagome started lecturing Inuyasha at that moment for his harsh tone to her citing that he could at least be sensitive to Rin about the harsh subject.

Rin didn't care if Inuyasha heard her or not so she spoke over them saying, "I'm sorry, but I have to know. I've been having dreams recently about him."

"What kind of dreams?" Sango asked with a worried tone.

"I'm back in the Feudal Era with Sesshomaru again. At first the dreams were about struggles I was having with myself about why he is allowing me to follow him again, and then they changed into dreams in which I am debating whether or not he'll love me like I love him. Last night I had a dream that I was pregnant with his child."

Rin knew immediately she should have left out last night's dream because they all turned their attention to her immediately. Inuyasha's face grew red as he spat out, "Don't get any ridiculous ideas. He hates humans, so there's no way in hell he'd have a half-demon child."

"Dad, is dinner ready yet?" His five year old daughter asked him thankfully taking the heat off of Rin. Inuyasha opened up the grill to find that the food was beginning to burn. He and Kagome then got into an argument about how he always burned the food. The argument continued throughout dinner, but that was the usual dinner conversation. 'Everyone around here argues too much,' Rin thought glumly. To make matters worse, she had gone to them for help and it was obvious that they didn't want to help her.

--

A few months passed, but not a word was spoken again about her dreams. They all pretended like she had never even spoken to her about them, and she sometimes even got the feeling that Inuyasha was trying to distance himself even more from her than he had before.

Then one day on her way home from class she had an unknown number pop up on her cell phone. "Hello," she answered the phone hoping it wasn't another annoying telemarketer.

"Is this Yoshida Rin?" a woman's voice asked her from the other end. The voice on the other side of the phone was quite melodious, so Rin imagined that it belonged to a very beautiful woman.

"Yes," she answered back. Midori's face showed that she was curious to know what was going on. She always was a little nosy.

"My name is Fujiwara Kiyoko, editor of Inu Publishing. I received a copy of the manuscripts for your children's books, and I must say that I've very impressed."

"Manuscripts?" Rin asked stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. The only possible manuscripts could be the little books that she and Kagome had made for her eldest and Sango's youngest children, but how in the hell did they end up on this woman's desk. "Who in the hell are you?" she asked rudely. "And how in the hell did you get your hands on those? They were supposed to be for private use only." Now Midori's curiosity was on full alert.

"Calm down," the woman said calmly. "A Higurashi Kagome sent them to me with the express wish that we give them a looking over. She thinks you have great talent, and I suppose she is hoping for a good review on her illustrations. But I must say that she was entirely correct in both assumptions." Rin was completely speechless at this point. After several uncomfortable seconds of silence the other woman asked her, "Is there any way I can meet with you this Saturday to discuss a contract. We would like to publish your books."

"Are you sure about that?" Rin finally squeaked out. "I'm still only in high school, so I'm sure you have plenty more mature writers to look at."

"Ms. Yoshida, I have been looking for you a long time. Please, meet with me alone on Saturday at ten. Our office building is on 55th and 43rd."

"Okay," Rin stuttered out and then the call was promptly ended.

Midori immediately asked her, "What was that all about?"

"They liked my books and want to publish them." She remembered how adamant Ms. Fujiwara was about meeting with her alone. "She just wants to meet with me though, even though she liked Kagome's illustrations. I wonder if that means that they liked them but not enough to use them. Perhaps they're going to use someone else's illustrations instead." She smiled knowing that for once she would get recognition over Kagome. Sure, it did sound selfish, but for once she wanted to be noticed.

Rin walked into the lobby of the Inu Publishing Company on Saturday morning at the time designated. Before she could even reach the desk she noticed a picture of a large dog demon in his true form hanging from the wall behind the desk. As she got close to it she could see the jagged magenta stripes on its cheeks and the blue crescent moon on its forehead. Her first instincts were to run away because this clearly was a picture of Sesshomaru in his true form. Did Kagome even know who she sent the manuscripts to? Did she know that she was sending it to Sesshomaru's company?

A young woman only slightly older looking than her grabbed her arm to help support Rin. "Please come with me, Rin," the woman whispered to her. Carefully she was guided out of the building by the woman still holding her arm and to a waiting limo. The driver opened the door to reveal Sesshomaru sitting there.

"Oh, no!" Rin protested trying to turn around and get out of the woman's grasp. "I'm not talking to him!"

The woman wouldn't let go of her and let Rin struggle for a little bit before Rin figured out that she wasn't going anywhere. Finally giving up Rin let the woman push her into the limo only to have the door close leaving Rin in the limo and the woman standing still on the sidewalk. The woman smiled at her and waved before she walked away.

Rin could feel Sesshomaru get up from the seat, so she looked in his directiorn to find him moving to the seat across from her. Even in this day and age when humans outnumbered demons he still didn't want to sit with her. "I've been waiting for you to get closer to your birthday, but I guess two weeks before is soon enough." His face remained passive and he had guarded his emotions well enough to not allow them to be seen in his eyes.

"What's it matter to you? You're the asshole who sent me away." She crossed her arms across her chest and looked out the window so that she didn't have to look at him.

She heard him ask her, "Is that what they told you?"

Turning her gaze back to him she squint her eyes and asked him sarcastically, "You mean your loving brother and his wonderful friends?"

His gaze never wavered as he explained to her, "I have come today because in my past they didn't tell you the whole truth until you turned 30. By that time it was too late."

"What in the hell truth are you talking about?" she demanded to know. She clenched her jaw knowing that her jaw would probably be sore later from all the pressure she was putting on it.

"I couldn't raise you alone, especially in your developing years, so I gave you to my brother because he promised to take care of you. But it seems that my brother failed to do so, and he failed to tell you the reason for why you were supposed to be under this care. But his worst offense was that he didn't tell you that we had agreed that you would return on your eighteenth birthday to the Feudal Era. When he lay dying, while you were in your thirties, he told you of his promise to me, but when you returned back my demon mate would not allow you to follow me anymore. You lived your remaining ten years in a human village you despised."

"Why should I believe you?" she questioned him. Why shouldn't she trust him? Inuyasha had already proven he could not hold up his end of the bargain by not taking care of her. Perhaps he had also promised to return her fully intending not to do that part also. That could be why they had tried to fill her head with false impressions of Sesshomaru.

But could she really trust him? Did he really have her best intentions at heart or was he just trying to get rid of her? He did not take long to answer her, "I wouldn't be asking you to return to the Feudal Era on your eighteenth birthday to change history." He did have a good point there. "Things might have worked out better for you and for me if you had returned at the sent time." He pulled out an envelope from his suit coat pocket and handed it to her. "I only ask that you give this to me as soon as you can once you return. I shall wait for you at the well for only a couple of days after your birthday."

Rin took the envelope from him and looked at the strange writing on it. She figured it had to be in the demonic language. The past Sesshomaru would probably only believe it was authentically from his future self if the letter was written in the demonic language since Rin seriously couldn't have written it if that was the case. She looked back up at him to see that his expression had changed some to show that he was being sincere. Rin looked down at the envelope and asked him, "What if I didn't return at all to the Feudal Era?"

"That choice is up to you. I just thought you would be happier returning since they haven't treated you the way that you deserved." The limo came to a stop outside of Miroku and Sango's house. "I only wish that you might forgive me for leaving you with them. I had only your best intentions at heart and had trusted them too freely."

Suddenly Rin felt bad for being so harsh to him. Not sure what to say she just smiled at him and put the envelope into purse. She smiled at him again and then got out of the limo when the driver opened the door for her. She would not turn around and look at him as she walked to the front door for fear of him seeing her mixed emotions.

As Rin got into the house she could see Sango and Miroku standing there as if waiting for an answer to a question that need not be spoken aloud. Now Rin needed to figure out if she should tell them the truth. If she did, there was a possibility they could make the next couple of weeks miserable for her, so she decided to lie to them. "Do you remember the books that Kagome and I put together?" she asked them.

"Yes," Sango answered her sounding a little worried.

Rin brushed a stray hair off of her face as she said, "Well, I guess she sent them to a publisher. They liked it so much that they want to publish it, but I guess they want to go with a different illustrator. They said the pictures were good, but they were looking for someone more professional."

She watched as both let out air that it appeared they had been holding in that whole time. "We're just worried about you," Sango explained to her in a very caring voice. "I have heard that Sesshomaru is living here in Tokyo, and we were worried that he might be trying to contact you."

Rin's nerves started to bristle at their words. "What's so wrong with Sesshomaru? Why do you all hate him so much? Was it because he made you take care of me?" She was so mad she just pushed Sango out of her way, which was no easy task considering Sango's strength, and marched towards the stairs.

Before she made it up the stairs she heard Miroku's stern voice say to her, "You don't know him like we did. He was not the kind demon you thought he was. We're just trying to keep you from being hurt by him."

Rin turned to him and noticed that Sango was holding onto Miroku's arm like it was the only thing holding her up. The concern on Sango's face made Rin feel bad for her tone, but one thing she had learned from Inuyasha was how to hold a grudge. She shout at them with fury, "I knew him better than you did because I actually followed him around, so don't be giving me that bullshit! And if you think you can keep me from him forever, you have another thing coming!"

With that said she locked herself in her room and turned up her stereo so that she couldn't hear them nor could they hear her. She pulled the books out of her book bag and flung them to the floor carelessly. In place of them she grabbed a few essentials and stuffed them into her bag until it was brimming and couldn't be shut. The window to her room opened up to a tree, which she had climbed up and down several times when she had escaped out of the house at late hours to go hang out with Midori.

Tonight it seemed that the tree would not be her savior like it had before. Perhaps it was telling her to wait the next two weeks, but she just had this overwhelming urge to get out of this house…out of this century. She could stay with Kaede for a couple of weeks until her birthday. At least it was better than being here listening to people trying to convince her not to go without directly saying it. They were trying to keep her from understanding their true purpose, but that was only because they didn't know that she was now aware of what they were up to.

Somehow she managed to climb down the tree despite the difficulty, and then she headed towards the shrine. When she got to the shrine she noticed that Inuyasha was outside by the gift shop with a few customers. While he was distracted she made her way to the well house only to find it locked. "Shit!" she said out loud to herself.

"What does 'shit' mean?" a little voice asked her. Rin looked down only to see Kagome's eldest child standing there. Boy would they be made when they found out that she had taught their daughter a bad word!

Rin kneeled before the little girl and explained, "It's something adults say when they are mad at something. But it's not something children should ever say." She hoped that it would at least buy her time before Inuyasha's wrath was thrown down upon her for teaching Emi that word; that is if she couldn't get to the well by the end of the day. A thought then occurred to her, so she asked the little girl, "Emi, do you know where your mom keeps the key for the well house?"

It was a long shot, but at least she could try it. To her surprise the little girl said, "Daddy carries his here," she said pointing at her waist. "Mommy keeps hers in her desk, but I can't touch her desk." Rin got a wicked smile on her face as she thought of a way to get the keys out of the desk. Kagome almost never kept her drawers locked, so it was just a matter of finding a way to get to the desk.

Rin picked up the little girl and said to her, "Can you keep a secret?" she asked the little one. The girl nodded her head enthusiastically, so Rin followed up by saying, "Then don't tell your mom that I need her keys. Okay?"

"Okay!" the girl cried out loud.

Together they walked to the house hand in hand. When Kagome saw Rin at the door with her daughter she seemed quite surprised. "Your parents just called and said that they just had a fight with you. How did you get out?"

"I climbed down the tree," Rin said bluntly. Boy, parents did become dumb when they got older! "I guess you heard that I met with a publisher today."

"I did," Kagome said to her as she picked up her daughter.

Rin deposited her shoes and the bag by the door and walked into Kagome's house without Kagome's permission. "I was hoping that I could get some of the extra pictures you had but didn't put in the book. I want to give them something more as inspiration for the illustrations." She walked into the study hoping that Kagome wouldn't follow her, but she was not in luck. As she dug through the desk she could tell that Kagome wasn't too thrilled with the idea of her digging through her personal things. But Rin just thought that if she wanted to keep things private she should have thought of that before sending in Rin's private stories to a publisher.

"Don't you think you should be more concerned with your parents right now?" Kagome suggested to her rather agitated. Her daughter clearly wanted down, so she set Emi on the ground so that she could run off. As soon as Emi was out of listening distance Kagome closed the drawer that Rin had just opened up. Just before the drawer was closed Rin could see a set of keys lying next to the container holding Kagome's colored pencils. "Is that really why you came here?" She looked quite skeptical of what Rin was doing as if she could read Rin's thoughts.

Thankfully for Rin Kagome's three year old daughter started screaming at the top of her lungs in such a wail that would make anyone cringe. As Kagome ran to her child, Rin opened up the drawer again and took the keys out. She ran out the door not caring that the child had a knot on her head that was bleeding. She was on a mission, and nothing could stop her. It took a few keys before she found the one that she wanted. The rusting lock snapped open and she turned it so that she could remove it.

But as she was about to open the door a hand clamped above the handles and held it in place. "Where in the hell do you think you're going?" Inuyasha's voice rang out in the silence of the day. He knew exactly what she was doing, so this was clearly a rhetorical question.

"Do you know your daughter might need stitches?" she in a matter-of-fact tone. "You better get back to Kagome before she gets angry at you for not paying enough attention to your children." She knew she sounded cold right now, and when it came to the children she never sounded so cold. His eyes showed a fury burning within them because he was obviously not pleased to hear and see her acting like Sesshomaru. Scratch that, she wasn't acting like Sesshomaru because Sesshomaru would have just taken out Inuyasha to get his way.

So Rin punched him in the face. Her knuckles connected directly with his nose and she could feel the cartilage cracking before the pain of connection coursed through her knuckles. He sprawled back slightly from the blow and then immediately covered his face. Now that he was human and getting older he wasn't as much of a challenge. Rin smiled at him using the same evil smile she had seen on Sesshomaru's face several times, and then she slid the door open with a thud. She could hear Inuyasha calling out to her as she jumped down the stairs and then over the lip of the well, but she didn't hear any of his words before the darkness overtook her.


	2. The Feudal Era

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Note regarding the last chapter: I didn't want to make the Inuyasha gang out to be horrible people. Inuyasha more so feared Rin's dislike of him since she had learned a lot of Sesshomaru's tendencies. And Miroku and Sango were still very young and not much older than Rin so it was difficult for them to relate to her as parents. Since this is written from Rin's POV and she is still young, she has a tendency to overreact.

--

The sun was setting over the field of wildflowers and tall grass. Rin lay down in the grass and drank in the fading light. The flowers were much more abundant here than they were in the future, so she tried to take the opportunity to pick them whenever possible. Tonight the villagers had a wedding feast, and she had decided to leave early to get away from the crowds. It seemed as if she was almost never able to be alone. When she was alone she was either making her dinner, sewing new clothes for herself, or fast asleep.

Village life was difficult in comparison to following her lord around. Her body ached after a full day's work, and only then could she work on the things around her hut that needed to be worked upon. She did, however, sleep better in this era, but more so because she went to bed completely exhausted.

The sun sank below the horizon and she knew that she should have been back in the village an hour ago. Now that it was dark it was harder for her to find her way back. It was also the best time for demons to find tasty meals of human flesh. But worst of all, this relaxing moment was causing her to be very sleepy. Her body now wouldn't react the way she needed it to, and instead of getting up she fell asleep there amongst the flowers.

There were no dreams in her sleep but she had this feeling that she was moving on a rather bumpy road. Opening her eyes slightly she could make out the sky above her. After closing her eyes and re-opening them again the blurry vision clarified. As she sat up she saw silver hair and a white hamaka walking in front of her. "Lord Sesshomaru?" It then occurred to her that her last memories were of lying in the field contemplating her life before she fell asleep. She tried to sit up immediately but then realized that she was being carried. She could feel the rumbling on the other side of his armor as he growled and held her closer to keep his grip on her. "You weren't supposed to be around for another day."

Jaken's voice could be heard from in front of Ah-Un, "Stupid human girl, you should be grateful that Sesshomaru-sama came early and found you before another demon did."

"Oh, yes, I am grateful, but I'm also surprised." Sesshomaru would not look down at her, and she wondered if he was agitated at her for his having to find her that way. She had thought he would have been happy to see her after all of this time, but the more she thought about it the more she realized she was just being silly because he was always cold.

"Go back to sleep," his deep voice cut through the night as he put her down on Ah-Un. Not wanting to upset him further she said not a word but lay down on her stomach and used her arm as a pillow. Sleep quickly overtook her again.

The next morning she woke up when the sun hit her face and her dreams were drowned out. As she sat up she felt her back pop from sleeping on an uneven surface. Then the feeling of her full bladder caught up with her so that she asked them to stop. Sesshomaru ceased his walking immediately and suggested to her, "Why don't you also go find yourself something to eat."

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru," she said bowing to him. It felt good to her to be addressing him again. Of all her elders in the Modern Era, none of them could command the proper respect from her like Lord Sesshomaru could. He was perfect in comparison.

After a breakfast of fish and berries they were walking again. While he said not a word to her, she was well aware that he was intently concentrating on her and yet on his surroundings. Some would think him rather cold and uncaring to not show her any affection after not seeing her for just over nine years, but Rin knew him well enough to know that he didn't openly show his affection. It was more visible in the way he looked at her, how he paid attention to all of her vital signs, and his patience with her.

Rin did enjoy the silence that stretched between them. In the Modern Era what nature there was in Tokyo was often covered over by the sounds of modern technology. But in the Feudal Era one could hear the sounds of the birds chirping, the locusts' songs, and the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves. All of these things she missed dearly these past nine years.

Along one of the bends she saw a field full of flowers and she wished dearly that she could go pick them, but that would only hold up her companions. "Are you not going to run around in that field?" Jaken asked her after noticing her hesitant.

"No," she answered him trying to keep her attention on Sesshomaru's broad back. "I'm not eight years old anymore." She hoped that she sounded grown up to him.

"Thank goodness for that," Jaken squawked. "We don't need to be dealing with that childishness anymore."

He was about to say something more when Sesshomaru's deep voice said to Rin, "If you wish to pick a flower you may."

Jaken's jaw dropped open in astonishment of hearing his stoic lord's words. "May I really?" Rin asked hesitantly. Her eyes danced with joy at the sight of the flowers before her. He nodded only slightly, so she carefully approached a set of purple flowers. Once she pulled them carefully from the ground making sure to leave the roots she held them to her nose and took an appreciative smell of them. As she walked back to her waiting companions she noticed that Sesshomaru was watching her out of the corner of his eye. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru," she said to him sweetly before taking another whiff of the flowers.

She looked over her find carefully taking in ever detail of the flower. "You act like you haven't seen a flower before," Jaken commented rudely.

Rin would not look at him but concentrated only on the flowers and the road before her. "They didn't really have flowers like they do here. Or at least they didn't have fields of flowers in the city." Jaken didn't seem to believe her, so she spent the next couple of hours talking about the future and all its wonders. She could tell that Jaken was mocking her with every comment he made, but Sesshomaru said not a word only listening carefully.

That evening he finally talked to her again while Jaken ran after his meal. He was sitting against a tree with his back resting on its bark. Rin kneeled down in the front of the fire opposite of him. From the moment she sat down to eat her melon she could feel his eyes boring into her, so it was not a surprise when he finally spoke to her. "Did my brother treat you well during your time with him?"

Rin chewed over the piece of melon she had just bitten off and thought carefully of her words. Swallowing the well chewed piece she answered him, "He didn't like me."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No," Rin answered him and then quickly followed up by specifying, "Not physically, at least. He didn't want to be near me, so he sent me to live with the lecherous monk and the exterminator." Anger flashed in Sesshomaru's eyes, so she immediately informed him, "He never touched me or did anything inappropriate, but the both of them were constantly doing adult stuff in front of other people and fully knowing I could hear them. They also didn't seem too happy being stuck with having to take care of me at times."

Rin started giggling when she saw Jaken run past them still chasing after the rabbit he wanted to eat. When he went out of sight again she took another bite of her melon and turned her attention back to Sesshomaru as he said to her, "I instructed Inuyasha to take care of you."

"If he agreed," she said between bites, "it was because he didn't realize how much I acted like you." She swallowed her last bite of the melon and stood. "They weren't planning on telling me that you were expecting me to return some day."

He watched her with a small growl rumbling deep in his chest. She tossed the melon rind into the bushes some distance away from their little camp so as to keep the bugs from swarming the camp. As she walked back she said to him, "But you told me that you were waiting here for me. It seems that my 'parents' and Inuyasha figured out pretty quickly what had happened, so I had to escape early. I even had to punch Inuyasha in the nose to get him away from the door to the well house."

She could see the amusement in Sesshomaru's eyes and almost thought she saw a small smile crossing his face. "I can't imagine he was hurt though," he said with a completely serious tone.

"Oh, I'm sure I didn't break his nose, but I sure as hell gave him a good nose bleed." She laughed at her memory of Inuyasha's face when she hit him. He seemed so caught off guard before the anger seeped in. She only wished that Sesshomaru could have seen the whole scene.

"Has that half breed grown that weak?" Sesshomaru questioned her.

"He's not a half breed anymore," Rin informed Sesshomaru as she kneeled down besides the fire so that she could see him without having to look over the flames. "When they got to the Modern Era he wished to become a human so that he could fit in. There aren't many demons left there, and those that are there tend to stay in hiding because humans would likely try to dissect them or put them up for display. It's a shame what they've done to the demon race."

She wondered if he believed her or not. For thousands of years the demon race had ruled over the planet before humans were even introduced. It would likely be hard for him to believe that the weak human race would one day take control. "So I told you that I was waiting for you?" he asked her breaking her thoughts. She blinked at him a couple of times before looking down at her kimono.

As she stood up she pulled out a piece of paper that was tucked between her kimono and obi. Her steps towards him were slow and cautionary, as well her offer of the envelope to him. "You asked me to return because in your time line I wasn't told to return until I was thirty. You also wanted me to give you this."

Sesshomaru took the envelope from her hands rather roughly signaling that he was not happy with her words. Rin didn't blame him though for being upset with her. He was probably skeptical of the origin of the letter.

Rin quickly retreated and sat across the fire from him again and turned another direction to pretend that she wasn't interested in what the letter had to say. After a few minutes he folded up the pages and tucked it between his armor and his hamaka. She listened carefully just in case he might make a grunt or groan but he didn't. Instead he just stared at her, his eyes completely fixated on her.

Rin suddenly felt uncomfortable, so she turned away from him and spread out the bedding that was in Ah-Un's saddle bags. Only when they had been settling down to camp for the night had she noticed it was there. He never used to carry this, so was this just for her? She rolled the futon out onto the ground before wrapping herself in a blanket. That night she slept with her back to her lord despite how cool it was with only her back to the fire. There was something brewing in his brain, and the note she handed him certainly made him more contemplative.

--

The rest of the month they mostly journeyed in silence. She hoped that she could get something more out of her lord, but he certainly wouldn't talk to her with Jaken around. Unfortunately there wasn't a way to get rid of him, and even if she could she couldn't guarantee that Sesshomaru would say much to her.

At the end of the month Sesshomaru decided to return to his castle. Jaken explained as they got close to the castle that shortly after defeating Naraku Sesshomaru had decided to return to his castle and take up his role as the Lord of the Western Lands. For the past nine and a half years Sesshomaru had been conducting court with the exception of three months of the year when he would patrol his border.

The castle was very large and could be seen from quite a distance. Rin stood atop of a mountain and gazed down at the castle stretched out before her. She had been here once in her life, but she was only eight and things were more overwhelming back then because of the new world that had been unfurled before her in the short time she followed her lord. Back then she had also been quite intimidated by the sheer size and beauty of his mother. Was she still there?

As if reading her mind Sesshomaru informed her, "My mother is still the Lady of the Western Lands. As long as you stay out of her way she has no reason to harm you." Rin nodded her head because she knew not what to say. Instead she fixated her gaze on the main house and the number of store houses and servants' houses that littered the grounds in an organized fashion.

Sesshomaru let her stay there for several minutes just to continue gazing at the magnificence before leading the small band down the mountain. It took Rin several moments before she realized that she was being left behind. Not wanting to fall too far behind she ran behind them until she caught up.

The servants lined up along the entrance to the estate. Sesshomaru walked past them as if inspecting them. Once at the gates he turned around and announced, "Rin has come back to us. I want you to treat her as an equal servant."

The sound of a woman's voice was heard from the other side of the gate. The voice questioned him, "We don't have to keep that human pet here, do we?" Rin watched as Sesshomaru's mother appeared from behind the gate's doors. Immediately Rin bowed down like the other servants. The last thing she wanted to be accused of was being insubordinate. "You are too much like your father," Rin could hear her say to Sesshomaru.

"I could never mate with a weak human," he chided her coldly. Rin hadn't remembered much about how Sesshomaru talked to his mother the first time they met, but she certainly could detect now that he thought himself above his mother.

Rin could hear the sound of the Lady's robes as they scrapped the ground. She wished to look up, but she feared what the demon woman would do to her if she were caught. "You are more like your father than you are willing to admit," she said to him rather quietly and certainly with an air of mocking. "That's why I have invited your cousin Chiyo to take up residence in the castle. I expect you to mate with her by the end of the month if you know what's best for you."

Rin was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the Lady leave. Instead she did hear the sound of Lord Sesshomaru commanding another servant, "Sen, I want you to guide Rin through her duties."

"Of course, Lord Sesshomaru," a woman said to him. Rin looked up at see Lord Sesshomaru disappear behind the gate with Jaken following behind dutifully. The woman stood up and walked over to Rin. "Come with me," she said sternly.

Rin followed behind her rather closely because she had noticed the rather perturbed looks on the other servants' faces. "Don't worry about them," Sen said to her gently before turning around. "They dislike humans just like the Master and his mother. But if Lord Sesshomaru has brought you here for a purpose then he will only need to protect you the one time and the rest will leave you be."

For the first time Rin got the change to look over the woman before her. She was an older demon than Sesshomaru and even his mother. If she were a human she would likely be in her forties. Her blonde hair was starting to show grey, and the wrinkles around her eyes showed that she had smiled and laughed much in her long life. If anything, this woman was likely the most matronly of all the servants, and Rin wondered if perhaps she hadn't even been Sesshomaru's nanny since the Lady of the Western Lands was not likely to sully her hands.

"I understand," Rin told her as she bowed before the woman.

Sen's hand reached under Rin's chin and she turned Rin's face one direction and then the opposite direction as if looking her over. "I can see why he would allow you to stay with him. You remind me so much of the late Lord's mistress. While you may not have the late mistress's grace, you do have her beauty and her kindness. If anything, you shall be the one who will melt the ice around his heart." Her words were kind and her voice gentle.

Rin blinked hard a couple of times trying to figure out if she had heard the woman correctly. "You've got me all wrong," Rin announced to her. "I'm just a human. Besides, he raised me a little when I was young, so there's no way he could even think of me in those terms."

Sen seemed taken aback by Rin's words but quickly wiped the look off of her face. "How old are you?" she asked Rin.

"Eighteen," Rin said while scratching an itch on her right arm. "I turned eighteen a few weeks ago."

Rin watched as Sen smiled at her in a knowing way before saying, "I figure you were quite young and naïve. Yet sometimes it's not our physical age that shows how mature we are. Sometimes Lord Sesshomaru, though 276, can demonstrate that he is still immature in certain matters."

"I don't think he would appreciate you insulting him like that," Rin pointed out all the while missing the whole point of the woman's statement.

Sen turned around again and started walking away while talking. "I was Sesshomaru's nanny from the day he was born until he grew too old to need one. I know more about him than his own mother." So Rin had been correct in her assumption. "And some days I think I know him better than he knows himself."

Rin followed her into a storage house filled with many differing items. Sen took her towards the back and pulled out some appropriate clothing that was uniform for all of the servants. "Can I ask you something?" Rin inquired as she threw the clothes over her arms.

Sen pushed Rin behind a small screen and said to her, "Only if you can dress and talk at the same time."

Rin untied her obi and slung it over the screen while asking, "What does Chiyo look like?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sen questioned her while taking the obi into her hands.

"Well," Rin started as she threw the kimono now atop the screen only to see it disappear to the other side. "I figure that I will need to steer clear of her, so I should know when she is coming."

Sen thought for a second before answering Rin, "She has silver hair and silver eyes. Her skin is as pale as the Lord's skin, but she doesn't have any markings on her face."

Rin finished tying her apron and stepped out from behind the screen. "It's a little big in a couple of areas," Rin said picking at the front of the shirt to show how much room she had left in the chest region.

"You are still young," Sen said fusing over how it laid. "Soon you should start filling out there and your hips will start spreading properly." She leaned back and observed Rin before announcing, "I believe you will have a lovely hourglass shape. While our fashion does not flatter the hourglass figure, it will come in handy when attracting a mate. Males are more attracted to such a figure since it shows greater ability to produce and rear young." Rin blushed at the woman's words. She had gone on a few dates in high school, but the thought of dating or of love had completely gone away when she came to the Feudal Era. Sen turned and started for the door calling after Rin, "Now come. I have yet to show you the castle grounds, and you must be ready for your first duty."

"What kind of duty would that be?" Rin questioned her.

"To serve Lord Sesshomaru his dinner. You will be required to serve him each of his meals, along with any guests he may also have. When he does have guests, you will be required to entertain them in the absence of a true Lady of the Western Lands. The current Lady is too old and is only the Lady by default, so it would be inappropriate for her to fulfill this role at this time."

"But I don't know how to," Rin protested. "They didn't teach us that kind of stuff in the future." Rin mused over how she now had the ability to do algebra and chemistry but couldn't entertain anyone of great stature.

"Don't worry. I will teach you." Sen pointed out a couple of buildings to Rin before taking her into one. There were a couple of young female servants exiting a room when they walked into the building. They bowed before Sen and then scurried off. Sen walked into the very small room that only contained a futon before announcing, "This shall be your room. My mate and I live next door, so if you need anything you just need to yell." Rin imagined that if not tonight, soon she would be in need of their help because it would be likely that some servant would try to harm her.

Sen took her around the rest of the extensive castle grounds pointing out buildings of interest to her. Their last stop was the main house. This was where the royal family resided and conducted their affairs. The first room was the large room used for ceremonies and court proceedings. There was also a study and a library housed in the building. Sesshomaru's quarters were on one side of the building while the Lady of the Western Lands resided on the other side of the building. Rin internally vowed never to go near the Lady's side of the main house for fear of upsetting her since it was obvious that she didn't care for having a human in her home.

Since dinner was nearing Sen showed Rin back to the kitchen and they loaded up the tray with Sesshomaru's food and sake. Rin carefully carried it trying not to drop anything. She was a horrible klutz and had always been. Her first death probably wouldn't have happened if she hadn't tripped over feet while she was running to the safety of Sesshomaru's presence. When they got to the door of the study Sen knocked on the door and waited for Sesshomaru to say, "You may enter."

When Rin got into the room she noticed the number of scrolls that were littered about the room, especially the low lying table he was currently working at. She wondered what he was pondering over but didn't have much time to think before Sen cleared her throat to bring Rin's attention back to her. Rin gave her a sheepish smile and then set the tray before Sesshomaru. He would not look up at her as he wrote some things on a scroll.

Rin then poured him a cup of sake and set it in the far left corner of the tray from him. She stood up assuming that she was to follow Sen, who was standing by the door waiting for her. "Rin, you will stay here and eat with me."

Out of curiosity Rin looked at Sen to find her rather surprised at his request but then the look quickly changed to a smile. "I will bring Rin's food here, if that would please you, Lord Sesshomaru."

He wrote something else before answering her, "She can get her own food, but I want her to eat with me." Rin bowed slightly from the waist before scurrying from the room and behind Sen.

On their way back to the kitchens Sen commented, "It is rare for Sesshomaru to request the presence of anyone. Just don't let the Lady see that you are sharing his company." Rin nodded her head despite the fact that she knew Sen couldn't see her since she was directly behind her.

Rin put her meal on a tray also along with her tea and went back to the main house and to the study. He bid her to enter, and she slipped into the room entirely unnoticed by the servants. She set her tray on the other side of the table from him after moving a few scrolls. The ink was still fresh on them, so she was careful not to let them smudge. As she ate her food he continued working on the scroll not even once noticing the enticing food in front of him. Out of curiosity Rin looked at one of the scrolls to notice that it was an inventory of trade routes and supplies. Having good math skills, she quickly noticed that his addition had been wrong. "Lord Sesshomaru," she called out quietly before realizing that he would likely be upset with her for interrupting him.

He looked up at her and said, "I will eat when I'm ready to." His voice was rather cold as was his stare.

"Um, that's not what I was going to say." She swallowed a lump in her throat caused by her sudden nerves. While it might be quite an insult for her to correct his math, she couldn't let him think that she was going to lecture him over something so ridiculous as him not eating his meal. He was way older than her, so he knew exactly how to take care of himself. His gaze turned from the scroll in front of him again to her face. Rin pointed at the particular spot with her pinky finger and informed him, "You did you math wrong on this?"

"Math?" he asked her sounding slightly unsure as to what she was saying.

Rin raised both eyebrows wondering what he didn't quite understand about her statement. "Yeah, there are only 36 sacks of rice, not 46." She watched his jaw tick just slightly upon realizing that she was now being so bold as to correct him. "I was the best in my class in math."

His gaze softened as he asked her, "What does this word 'math' mean?" The fact that he actually had to ask her something made her want to giggle.

And she did giggle out loud but quickly covered her real reason by stating, "I sometimes forget that I grew up in a different time period." She reached for his pen and actually took it from his hands. Dipping it in the ink bottle she made the correction on the scroll before handing it back to him. "I guess you could call it counting, but in the future it's so much more. You can figure out exactly how many you have of something with a complex set of formulas." She wrote on the scroll he had been using as scratch paper a formula she learned in her early algebra classes. Before his eyes she solved the equation X+10 equals 46.

Sesshomaru watched her hand as she figured out the formula and then handed the pen back to him. He slowly took it from her and then set it down on the scroll she had just written on. "If you know so much from your education in the future, then you will now keep the books for me." A small smile crossed her lips as she realized she could be of some use to him now. He had plenty of servants to do the menial tasks, but he didn't have too many who could do the paperwork he seemingly looked like he dreaded.

So for the next few months she spent her days training with Sesshomaru on how he needed the inventories to be kept. In the meantime she would study with Sen on the art of entertainment. The more time she spent with Sen the closer a bond she felt to the woman. Perhaps that was because she hadn't had much of a mother figure since her mother died when she was only seven. And it seemed that Sen was willing to take that place in her life.

And it seemed the even Sesshomaru enjoyed her company. He would listen to her as she talked about her work, and sometimes he would contribute to the conversation, yet not saying much. But it seemed that he enjoyed listening to her stories about the future more than what was currently happening.

Chiyo seemed a bit upset about his attention to her because she often would come in and try to pull Sesshomaru away to do something else. And sometimes even the Lady of the Western Lands would come in to lecture him in front of Rin about his lack of attention to Chiyo. She assumed that he was only paying attention to Rin to run Chiyo off. Rin often wondered why it was that he didn't just throw Chiyo out of the castle if he wasn't interested in her. So out of curiosity she finally asked him one day, "Are you intending on courting Chiyo?"

Sesshomaru slowly moved his eyes towards her but made sure to guard his emotions from her. Perhaps he had figured out a long time ago that she had learned how to read him. "I suppose you know nothing about court politics?" He pinched a small piece of meat between his chopsticks and then looked up to see Rin nod her head. After putting the piece of meat in his mouth he said to her, "Perhaps you should ask Sen for an explanation."

"Why can't you tell me?" she asked him innocently. Frankly, she was rather curious about a lot of the things happening in the castle that most of the servants knew little about. "As the Lord of the Western Lands you understand court politics better than Sen." She knew she was being bold now, and she wondered if he would grow angry with her.

But instead he said to her, "I will teach you later after your etiquette training." Rin gave him a small smile and then finished her meal in a hurry hoping to get to Sen as soon as possible.

So as soon as her training with Sen finished she rushed to the main house to find Sesshomaru. He was currently sitting with the elders and generals discussing matters. Having just interrupted them, Rin bowed before them and apologized. Sesshomaru pointed at her and then pointed at the empty seat next to the elder from the fox demon tribe. She sat down and listened to them as they discussed some turmoil occurring between the humans and the panther tribe. It seemed as if the confrontation between the two had been occurring often and for some time. It seemed that the panthers had been accused of killing a villager, but the villager had been killed by a wondering bear demon. Yet they refused to believe it. Now they were fighting each other, and the more humans the panthers killed the more the humans tried to fight them.

Sesshomaru just sat there listening to the men discussing what course of action they should take. When they resorted to arguing he finally decided to input his decision. "I shall travel to the village myself and end their warring or destroy the village itself." His voice was deadly and quite serious. Rin knew that he didn't quite know how to negotiate with humans, so it was more likely that he would just destroy the village.

"Perhaps it would be best to take the human woman with you," the demon sitting next to her suggested. "They might be more willing to work with the panther tribe if she were to talk to them. They will most likely try to attack you long before you even can explain anything to them." Rin figured the demon sitting next to her must be a well-respected demon or a good friend of the last InuTashio in order to suggest something so bold to Sesshomaru without bringing out Sesshomaru's wrath.

"I would agree with Elder Kioshi," the leader of the panther tribe stated, to which most of the other elders in the room agreed.

Sesshomaru's eyes shifted to look at Rin and then back at the men before him. "Because you were a good friend of my father's, Elder Kioshi, I will take your advice this time," Sesshomaru said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Rin, prepare to leave tomorrow morning." Rin nodded her head and watched as the Elders got up from their seats and made their way out of the room. "Rin," Sesshomaru called out to her. She looked from the elders back to her lord, so he explained to her, "That is much of the extent of court politics."

"But what does that have to do with demon courting?" Rin questioned him.

Sesshomaru got up from his seat and walked toward the open doorway of the great room that opened up to the outside. He looked out as he explained to her, "There is a tradition amongst the four lords as to the mating ritual. The lord must have three options for mate when he convenes a ceremony."

"So Chiyo will be one of the three options?"

"Exactly," he confirmed. "And she knows that she may have to wait another 100 years but will wait if she believes that she can become the Lady of the Western Lands."

Rin couldn't imagine waiting 100 years for something like that, but perhaps that had more to do with how she wasn't expected to even live 100 years when a demon could live for thousands of years. "What is the mating ceremony like?" she asked him out of curiosity. She would likely never see Sesshomaru's, but that didn't mean that she wasn't curious.

He turned his head just slightly to look at her and then looked back outside again. "When the four lords convene they hold a public display of their power. The lord wishing to mate must prove that he is strong enough to mate with his choice. If he loses, the females will lose interest and the other lords will refuse to conduct the ceremony. The display will also demonstrate the strongest and the weakest lord. That evening they will privately meet with the lord and his intendeds, and the strongest lord will pick one of the intendeds as to whom he would make his concubine. Then the next strongest picks one of the other two leaving the weakest lord with the last of the intendeds.

"The next day just after lunch the three females will come before the lord and he will decide which of the three he will make his mate. If she agrees, the lords who picked the other two will have to conduct the ceremony. As compensation, they will receive the females they picked as their concubines." He was silent for half a minute before Rin figured out that was all there was. It certainly seemed rather elaborate, but she knew nothing really of the history of this tradition.

"Have you attended one of these ceremonies?" she asked him wondering if he had kept a lord from obtaining a mate.

"No," he answered her. "They are all much older and have mated a long time before even my parents mated. It was probably for the best because my father would have kept them from mating because he would have always defeated them during the display." Rin nodded her head without realizing it. She had heard many stories about how strong InuTashio had been.

Rin remained seated and watched Sesshomaru's back. It looked like he had reached for his chest for some reason, but she couldn't see exactly what he was doing. The sound of papers scraping against each other reached her ears and she wondered if he was looking at the letter the future Sesshomaru wrote to his younger self. She wouldn't be able to find out because she was quickly brought to her knees when she saw the Lady of the Western Lands walk into the room. "Leave," she commanded Rin, so Rin ran out of the main house and to the kitchens to give them space.


	3. Traveling Explanations

The next morning Rin woke up at the first sound of the birds chirping. She had purposely gone to bed early so that she could get up this early. Her lord and Jaken would probably be waiting for her at the main gate, and even this early in the morning they had been waiting for a couple of hours. Sometimes she thought that demons didn't know how great they had it because they didn't require as much sleep as humans did.

But when Rin got to the front gate with her bags she found no one waiting there for her. Ah-Un was still in his stable, so she strapped her bags to his back and went in search of Jaken or Lord Sesshomaru. Thankfully she found the both of them in the study. Before she could even knock on the door she could hear the sound of Jaken wailing, "But why can't I go with you?"

A small growl could be heard from inside, which she assumed to be Sesshomaru, who was likely not tolerating Jaken's antics at the moment. "Do not question my decision," was all that Sesshomaru said to him.

"Have I done something wrong, mi'lord?" Jaken asked him. "Or is it that you want time alone with Rin?"

Rin was actually quite shocked at Jaken's accusation. Why would her lord want to spend time alone with her? It must have been something Jaken had said or done that had caused Lord Sesshomaru's decision, and Jaken was just trying anything he could to get Lord Sesshomaru to change his mind. She could hear the sound of Sesshomaru's boots as they lightly walked across the room and towards the door. Rin moved from standing just outside of the door to press herself up against the wall next to the door.

"They are all talking," Jaken said sounding rather jealous. "The whole court is talking about how they think you are becoming like your father and falling in love with a human. You spend too much time with her, and you show her too many favors. They only suggested that Rin go with you so that they could find out what you would do when you spent time alone with her for several full days."

The next sound Rin heard was the sound of crashing as something hit the opposite wall. Her best guess was that Sesshomaru had just kicked Jaken for being so offending. "You will not talk about me like that! I am not my father!" Sesshomaru ground out with deep seated anger in his voice.

The door to the study was flung open and Sesshomaru stepped out into the hallway to come nearly face to face with Rin. She audibly gulped as she noticed the red tint in her lord's eyes. Jaken really had pushed all the wrong buttons to make him this mad! There was no way in hell now that he would be coming along, despite the rumors. "I…uh…" Rin started stammering. She was well aware that he knew she had been standing outside all along because he probably smelled and heard her.

Sesshomaru regarded her for a second before walking past her and out the doors to the main house swiftly. Rin had to run after him just to keep up with him because his frenzied pace was much faster than a human run. He walked right past the stable, so Rin took it upon herself to get Ah-Un ready for the trip. She met up with him ten minutes later at the front gate.

The first couple hours of the trip Rin felt rather awkward around him. He was obviously affected by the rumors Jaken had mentioned to him, but was he mad at her for listening in? But more than anything she wondered why it was that he had decided on Jaken not attending with them even before he repeated the nasty rumors. She gathered her courage and asked him, "Is there a reason why Jaken will not be able to join us this time?"

Right now she wished that she could see his eyes to see what emotions may have passed through them. His simple answer to her was, "He would defeat the purpose of the trip since he doesn't cooperate well with humans." Rin had to admit it was a damned good reason. A few minutes passed before he asked her, "Why did you not make your presence known?"

His voice sounded rather passive to Rin, so she assumed that he wasn't too mad at her. "I guess because I didn't want to interrupt. I wasn't trying to spy or anything," she tried to reassure him whether he believed it or not. She allowed a minute of silence before suggesting, "Would it be better for me to take on some other responsibilities at the castle if there are rumors?" She had to admit that she enjoyed being in his presence, to be a friend to him when there were few he could talk to. And while he would never admit that he enjoyed her presence, she could tell that he cherished it in his own way.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sesshomaru chided her. "You are the best person to keep the books." Rin quirked an eyebrow as she wondered if he had forgotten her responsibility to bring him his meals. She didn't need him there when she kept his records, but he did have to be there for his meals. He also didn't need her to stay to eat with him. "The rumors are just idle chatter amongst those who desire my power." Even under fire he still remained calm and composed, which was one of the things she admired the most about him.

--

They reached the village after a couple of days of walking. Rin was glad that the trip had been so short because she imagined that Jaken would probably be very upset if they were gone too long. She could just imagine him back at the castle pacing at the gates until Lord Sesshomaru returned back home. Sometimes she wondered what he did at the castle anyway since she never saw him while they were there and yet on trips seemed so insistent on staying at Sesshomaru's side.

As predicted, the villagers tried to swoop down on Sesshomaru as soon as he got close to the village. He grunted in displeasure at their arrogance as they tried to order him around while waving their farming equipment at him. Rin watched as Sesshomaru's started to lift up his fingers like he did when he used his energy whip, so she immediately called out to the villagers, "Back away. He will kill you if you continue threatening him."

For the first time the villagers noticed that Rin was not one of their own. "What are you doing with this demon?" one of the young men demanded to know. "Are you his wench?" He waved a hoe in her face nearly cutting her, which caused Sesshomaru to growl and bare his teeth at the man.

Rin answered him bravely, "He has saved my life, and I am forever in his debt. Please, listen to him. He is the Lord of the Western Lands, and everything in the Western Lands must obey or perish." The villagers started grumbling at her words, so she followed up by saying, "I've seen him destroy some of the strongest demons in my lifetime, so I don't doubt that he will not spare your life if you challenge him."

The same young man then asked Rin, "How do we not know if he will force us to become slaves to the panther demons?" A number of men audibly agreed with him.

Rin looked around at the men standing before her. They were obviously not used to taking orders from demons, and they certainly didn't trust anyone. Perhaps she should have let Sesshomaru destroy them. "Because the panther demon tribe doesn't want to fight you. They didn't kill that villager, and they only kill now to protect themselves. If you stop fighting them, they will leave you in peace."

"Humans and demons cannot live in peace!" an elder man said as he cleared through the throng of men to come face to face with Rin. "Demons hate humans, and they think only of us as meals or nuisances. I have heard that Lord Sesshomaru is amongst the most hateful of humans, even despising his own father for having a child with a human. Why should I even believe that this demon with you could be him?"

"He is," Rin assured him softly. "Lord Sesshomaru does hate humans, but only those who don't understand that they are under his authority. I have realized this, and for that he has spared me." Somewhere in Rin's heart she wondered if that was true, that he only kept her around because she realized that he was supreme to her. But just as quickly as the thought popped into her head she brushed it aside remembering that he didn't have to save her either time in order to assert his dominance over her.

The village elder, or the elder man she assumed to be the village elder, twitched his left eyebrow a few times before asking her, "What does Lord Sesshomaru want from us? To let the panther demons keep killing us?"

"No," Rin immediately cried out softly. He wasn't listening to her at all, and the look in Sesshomaru's eyes showed that his thin patience with them was already wearing out. "They don't want to fight you, so please stop fighting them. When you stop, you will see that everything will be peaceful again."

One man in the crowd yelled out, "What kind of reassurance will we get that this will be true?" Another man yelled out, "Give us a pledge that they won't hurt us again!"

In a flash the young man who had previously threatened Rin grabbed her and pulled her back against his flabby chest and he pulled out a knife, which he pressed against her neck. Terror pulsated throughout Rin's body despite knowing that Sesshomaru wouldn't let them hurt her. She looked up at him and saw the fury in his eyes, and he stepped forward and let his energy whip release from his fingers cutting the men in half before coming to the man holding Rin.

Rin could feel the hand holding the knife shake as he quaked in fear. A sting of pain pricked Rin's nerves as she felt part of the blade go into her skin. The smell of her blood seemed to outrage Sesshomaru even greater. Sesshomaru picked up the man, who dropped the knife as he was lifted over Rin's head. Rin ducked out of the way as Sesshomaru destroyed the man by squeezing his head until the pressure caused it to explode. Blood, fluid, and parts of the man's brain flew about splattering on everything within a thirty foot radius.

The remaining men ran in terror, but Sesshomaru's energy whip cut down everything that was running from them. Rin laid there on the ground by Sesshomaru's legs. She closed her eyes trying to block out the bloody sight, but it was of no use since their cries could still be heard. Tears escaped from her eyes as she thought about the now widowed and fatherless still down there in the village awaiting the return of their fathers, their husbands, their sons.

The sound of the last man's cry echoed off of the trees on the edge of the forest before complete silence befell the land. Even the birds and insects were too afraid to make a noise. A pair of strong arms picked her up, and his wet tonuge licked the spot on her neck where the blade had cut her. When he was finished he carried her while Ah-Un followed behind them. She was afraid to open her eyes to let her lord see the tears in them even though she knew he could smell them.

He carried her for half an hour before putting her down. When she opened her eyes she saw that he had carried her to a hot spring. She watched as he untied the sash that held his armor to his waist and discarded it on the ground before removing his armor. She noticed that he was also covered in that man's blood, and she figured that he was probably wanting to take a bath also. She would make sure to clean his clothing also.

Thankfully for the both of them the hot spring had a large rock in the middle that obstructed much of the view from one side of the spring from the other side of the spring. Rin climbed in on one side while he climbed in on the other side. Rin also picked up their clothes and armor and scrubbed them in the warm waters after cleaning herself.

He was the first to get out, and she could hear him going through her bags that were saddled to Ah-Un. When she finally got out of the spring he had his back to her, and all he had wrapped around himself was one of Rin's blankets. Rin changed herself into a clean kimono before hanging the wet clothing on tree branches so that they could dry.

As she started to set up the camp she noticed that familiar envelope now lying on the ground near the spring. She remembered that he had tucked it between his armor and kimono, so she assumed it had fallen out when he had discarded his armor. She picked it up and noticed that it was well worn from being held between his armor and his body, but it was also possible that he had been reading it frequently. After all, she had thought that he had been reading the evening before they left before his mother had interrupted their peaceful moment.

She walked over to Sesshomaru, who had his back to her as he glared into the forest. When she stood in front of him she noticed how well sculpted his chest was, and it caused a blush to form on her cheeks. He had always been a friend or a mentor, but never before had she thought of him as being a sexually attractive man. But it seemed that everyone else had, so she took those few seconds to admire him.

He was quite tall and lean, yet very muscular. His skin was of the purest white, almost like porcelain. The few times she could remember him touching her bare skin it had been soft and smooth. His face was evenly proportionate and perfectly shaped, the markings only enhancing his beauty. And his eyes were the most remarkable color, like liquid gold. And sometimes when he looked at her lately with such a soft look that she didn't quite understand…

Sesshomaru quietly cleared his throat bringing Rin out of her revelries. She blushed again once she realized that he was aware of her staring, and she wondered if he could smell her change. "I'm sorry," she stuttered out. "But I think you dropped this." She handed him the envelope, and he took it from her carefully but not taking his eyes off of hers. Rin suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable under is gaze, and it made her want to blush.

Her heart thumped in her chest causing her to want to flee from him. Breaking her gaze from him she looked behind him at Ah-Un, who was grazing on some grass. It was hard to move her feet in the dragon's direction, but her mind screamed at her to move. As she bent down to pick up a branch to be used as firewood, Sesshomaru asked her still calling out into the forest, "Why have you not asked me what the letter contains?"

Rin paused before standing back up again with the branch in her hands. Her mind had long been wondering what it was in the letter, but she knew better than to ask him. There were certain things she could ask him and get away with because she would only irk him slightly. But to ask something so private that even the future Sesshomaru couldn't tell her what it was…well, that was entirely unthinkable to do.

She must have been too quiet for too long because he went ahead and explained it to her without her prompting. "We will meet my second choice for a mate during this trip. Tomorrow you will happen upon a woman of some importance in the woods while you are gathering your food. She is one of the concubines of the Lord of the Eastern Lands. Because of a treaty my father made with the other lords, we will be forced to take her back. Once we get there he will offer me the concubine's only daughter as my reward."

Rin looked at him to notice that he was now watching her over his shoulder, his body now halfway turned towards her. That strange look was still in his eyes. She guessed that he was expecting some sort of reaction from her, but what could she say to that? Why did it even matter if we found his second choice for a mate for the ceremony? "Will there be a ceremony in my lifetime?" Rin asked hoping that was what he wanted her to ask.

"We will, six months from now."

Rin turned away from him and raised her eyebrows once before commenting, "I guess you must find the third one pretty quickly after." She picked up a couple of sticks and placed them under her left arm so she could hold them securely while she picked up more sticks.

"I have found her already, only I will not be the one to suggest the ceremony take place or who the third choice is."

Rin picked up another stick and in a mocking voice said, "I guess that honor would go to your mother." If anyone else said that in the tone she had they would find themselves within his claws, but she and Jaken knew well enough that he didn't care for his mother's meddling. He said not another word but walked over toward Ah-Un and picked up Tokijin before walking towards the forest. Rin took that to mean that the discussion was now closed. But why had he even mentioned it?

As if able to read her thoughts he stopped just before the tree line started and said to her, "The letter warns me that I will be unhappy with her. It is trying to convince me that I would have been happier with one particular option that seems rather unthinkable. Did I make any suggestions as to why I needed to heed the letter?"

Rin looked past him as she remembered talking to him in the limo that particular day. "You said something about my returning because it would resort in your happiness and mine, but that was because I wasn't supposed to find out about returning to you until twelve years later after you had already mated. After that you only asked me to give you the envelope." His eyebrows furrowed for a second and then his face went passive again. Once again he turned his back to her and walked towards the forest.

--

The next morning Rin woke up to find Sesshomaru now dressed in his clothes again, the armor securely around him also. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she announced to him, "I'm going to find something for my breakfast." Taking rather unsteady steps she headed in the opposite direction he had gone the previous night.

After relieving herself she washed her hands in a small creek. Besides the sound of the running water, she thought she heard the sounds of someone else near her. Going in the direction she thought she heard the sound coming from, she came across a demon woman in the woods. The woman was dressed in an ornamental robe that seemed befitting of a woman of high rank. It was then that the predictive words that Sesshomaru had spoken the day before replayed in her mind.

And just before the woman saw her she wondered what would happen if she didn't tell him? Would he then have more time to find a mate he would be happy with? Or could he possibly be following her knowing that she was headed in the direction the woman was? It was then that the demon woman looked at Rin for the first time. There were tear streaks down her cheeks because she had been crying rather hard. Had this woman been kidnapped? Was that how she got all the way out here?

The woman's eyes traveled just above Rin's head and Rin watched the woman gasp in surprise. Rin could feel the presence of another behind her, but this presence was not an ominous one. "Come," Sesshomaru said to the woman. "You must return to your master." Rin felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach when she watched the woman grow furious with the suggestion. She hadn't been kidnapped, she had run away.

And as much as Rin wanted to protest, she knew that if Sesshomaru didn't return the woman to her lord, Sesshomaru would lose face amongst the other lords. What made matters worse was that he felt the need to tie Asami's hands behind her back to keep her from putting up much resistance; not that he needed any help taking her down since he was stronger than even her master. Rin had tried several times to engage the woman in conversation, none of which really panned out to much. Yet that would not stop Rin from trying to make her feel more comfortable around them.

--

The journey to the castle of the Lord of the Eastern Lands took two weeks. She was quite confident at this point that Jaken would be having a heart attack worrying about what had happened to Lord Sesshomaru to make him take so long to return back to the castle with the human that was causing his reputation to be sullied.

As they got close the castle a number of guards came out to inspect the group. They immediately relented when they noticed Asami with Lord Sesshomaru. Rin they were a bit suspect of. "You, human," a boar demon pointed at Rin. "What are you doing here? Leave! Only demons are allowed here!"

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru, who was growling loudly. His eyes had turned red, and his mouth was starting to form into a snout. The guards started to back away from him quite scared for their lives. In defense of the human girl Asami explained to them, "It's okay. Rin is one of Sesshomaru's servants." The men quickly relented and Sesshomaru calmed down. They were then escorted to the front gate of the castle.

While Rin hadn't been able to see the castle from above, she was quite sure that this castle was actually smaller than Sesshomaru's castle. The lord's personal servant and the eunuch came out to greet them. "Thank you for finding her," the eunuch explained. "She is our lord's second favorite concubine." Rin watched sadly as the guards roughly dragged away Asami with her hands still tied behind her back.

The personal servant then addressed Sesshomaru, "Lord Isao has requested that we escort you to the main house. He would like to personally thank you for returning Asami." Lord Sesshomaru stepped forward as he followed the servant only to stop only two steps later.

He thankfully had noticed how the eunuch had grabbed Rin and was now trying to drag her with him all the while covering her mouth. "Let her go," Sesshomaru's voice rumbled. "She is my servant."

The eunuch looked up at Sesshomaru rather surprised. "I thought you were bringing her for other reasons," the eunuch explained. "Besides, all female servants must stay in the harem."

Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles on his left hand just by bend them downward and then back up. "Do you dare attempt to take away this Sesshomaru's ward?"

The eunuch tried not to show his fear, but Rin could feel his hands quaking as he tried to maintain his grip on her. The personal servant gave the eunuch a signal by giving a half smirk that quickly faded. The eunuch let go of Rin but then shoved her at Lord Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru growled at the eunuch again, but this time the eunuch was smart enough to run away.

Rin followed behind Sesshomaru but made sure to stay close to him because she didn't like the looks the male servants were giving her. She had also noticed there were no female servants around the place. Sesshomaru didn't seem to be paying any attention to anything around him except the personal servant.

When they got to the main house they were taken to the ceremony room. Standing there alone in the room was the Lord of the Eastern Lands. Sesshomaru had told her a couple of days before that the lord's name was Isao. He was an eagle demon. His hair seemed to be made of white feathers, and his knees appeared to bend backwards from hers and Sesshomaru's. But he seemed quite over weight for a strong demon, and he looked like he was hundreds of years older than Sesshomaru.

He greeted Sesshomaru warmly but then noticed Rin standing there. "What is the meaning of bring a female in here? Especially a human female?" He pointed at Rin as he asked the guards these questions. Again Rin heard Sesshomaru growling. Lord Isao's face quickly fell as he saw Sesshomaru's reaction and he quickly pulled his hand back. Feigning a smile Lord Isao then said, "So this is the human woman I have heard so much about?"

Sesshomaru's growl actually got louder instead of quieter. "Do not think for a moment that I will share my bed with a human because my father did." Rin even shirked back slightly from the intensity of the words coming from Sesshomaru's mouth. Lord Isao seemed to relent rather quickly and then ordered the servants to prepare a meal for Rin also.

The demons sat down at the head of the room while Rin hung back and sat somewhere in the middle of the room. She wasn't too interested in what they had to say, so she let her mind wander.

The last several nights she had a succession of dreams that didn't make any sense to her. Between the dreams a whole scenario played out in her head. She had become the concubine of some other lord, but that didn't stop Sesshomaru from coming to see her. She had apparently been having an affair with Sesshomaru during his visits there. She later realized she was pregnant, and in the last couple of weeks in her pregnancy Sesshomaru had helped her to escape. He was going to hide her in a human village deep into his territory so that she and the child could survive because if the other lord were to find out her life and the life of her child would be ended.

She had hoped that it wasn't a sign of things to come, but she remembered the dreams she had during her time when she was in the Modern Era. In those dreams she had fallen in love with Sesshomaru and they had appeared to be happy together. It had to be one or the other because she couldn't have both. Or perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her.

Sure, after that day at the hot spring she had noticed that she was finding her lord sexually attractive, but that didn't mean that she was falling in love with him. And he had already reminded two people today alone that he was not going to take a human into his bed like his father had.

The servants placed a tray of food before Rin, and when she looked up she realized that they had already served the two lords. As she slowly ate her rice she listened in on their conversation. "I would like to offer you a reward for bringing my concubine back," Lord Isao offered Lord Sesshomaru.

"I do not need a reward," Sesshomaru tried to deter him. Rin could remember him telling her that he would end up accepting the gift.

Lord Isao waved his hand at his guards as he said, "I insist. Please, take Asami's only daughter. She is my gift to you. If anything she can be an offering to the other lords for your mating ceremony." The look on the demon lord's face was rather sinister. The only reason he was offering was because he wanted to rid himself of the responsibility of finding her a suitable match of some sort.

"I do not plan on mating any time soon," Sesshomaru informed the other lord casually.

Lord Isao gave him a smile before insisting, "No, I insist that I give you a gift for coming all the way out here." His daughter was brought into the room, and she bowed before Sesshomaru. "This is my daughter, Setsuko." Rin couldn't see the woman's face very well from behind, but she had golden feathers for hair.

"If you insist, please have her ready to leave in the morning." Lord Sesshomaru sounded rather annoyed with having to take Setsuko with them.

"Please feel free to stay as long as you like," Lord Isao suggested as he waved Setsuko away. From what Rin could see of the woman's profile, she had lavender eyes, and very soft features. She also had something on her forehead in bright pink. It was probably the sun seeing as that was the marking on her father's face.

Sesshomaru finished a drink of sake and set the tiny cup back onto the tray so that the servant could refill it. "I have been gone too long from my home." Rin thought he had looked at her for a second but she figured that she had been wrong. Yet, why had he heart started to beat so wildly as she imagined that he had?

Dinner passed by rather uneventfully for Rin, and she found herself so bored that she just decided to fall asleep. Eventually she felt a clawed hand shaking her awake. When her eyes focused she found Sesshomaru's passive face above hers. "Rin, get up," he commanded her. She sat up and noticed that Lord Isao was still there watching everything rather amused. "Please show me to my room," he requested of the servants.

"Perhaps it would be best if Rin were to sleep in the harem with the other females," Lord Isao suggested. They had already tried this earlier today. Rin got to her feet but didn't feel very steady on them.

In Rin's sleepy state she thought she saw Sesshomaru glare at Lord Isao before saying, "She is my ward, so she will stay in my room." He walked towards the door leaving Rin to start walking after him swaying slightly because her limbs still hadn't fully awoken yet. The servants took Sesshomaru to a guest house and gave him a room in the middle of the hallway. "Please bring our saddle bags in here," he commanded a servant.

"Do you want us to also bring you another futon?" the servant asked him.

Sesshomaru's answer was simply, "I don't need to sleep on a futon." The servant bowed to him and then exited the room. Sesshomaru turned to Rin and asked her, "Do you need to use the latrine?" Rin nodded her head but did not know which direction to head. Sesshomaru walked out of the room expecting her to follow him. Her mind, while still hazy, realized that he was showing her the way. That was rather unusual for someone of his stature to do, especially for a female.

He waited in the hallway making Rin feel rather embarrassed since he could hear her through the paper thin walls. But he didn't seem to care and commanded her to wait in the hallway herself while he used it. She followed him back to the room, where he finally explained to her, "Lord Isao is a notorious womanizer."

"Worse than Miroku?" Rin asked him as she pulled out her sleeping robe from the saddle bag.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes. "Any female that steps foot in this castle that is not already claimed as a mate or a concubine will become his concubine. If you are separated from me at any point I highly doubt you will be spared the same fate." Rin nodded her head in understanding but realized that he probably couldn't see her.

Despite his eyes being closed, she still turned her back to him as she changed into her sleeping robe. Once she was finished she turned around to see him now watching her again, which made her glad that she had her back to him. This wasn't quite like Sesshomaru, spying on a human woman when she was vulnerable, but there were some things about Sesshomaru she seemed to be interpreting wrong lately.

Rin laid down on the futon and yawned as she pulled the sheet up under her chin. Sesshomaru sat down next to the futon and propped up his left knee. He crossed his arms across his chest and let his chin fall against his chest. Rin yawned one more time before falling asleep.

--

The next morning they all left for home. Setsuko was very talkative most of the time, much like Jaken. While Rin had grown used to Jaken's ranting; Setsuko was a whole different story. She spent most of the time bragging about her accomplishments and her strength. Rin knew that it wasn't anything out of the ordinary since Chiyo probably did the same thing. If either hoped that they would eventually gain the title of Lady of the Western Lands, they needed to prove to him that they were a worthy mate and future mother of his children.

And somewhere in the back of Rin's mind she felt an emotion welling up in her that she refused to acknowledge.


	4. Hateful Choices

Rin had been correct in her assumption that Jaken would be worried about them when they returned. Of course the arrival of their newest guest was proof enough of their reason for the extended trip. And the Lady of the Western Lands seemed rather happy to have Setsuko there since it meant that Sesshoamru only needed one more choice for a mating ceremony to take place.

Thankfully for Rin Sen had been eagerly awaiting her return. Unfortunately though, she didn't quite know what to say to Sen. With Midori she could easily talk about boys because that was puppy love, something so completely simple even if they tended to overcomplicate it. But what had happened between her and Sesshomaru was not normal, nor was it simple. Even worse was the confusion of the whole situation for Rin.

What exactly did she feel for Sesshomaru? There were these twinges of hatred for Setsuko when he talked to her, but he didn't treat Setsuko with the same informalities that he gave Rin. And then that day at the hot spring she found herself looking at him differently, and he talked to her differently, almost like he wanted her to say something more to help him make his choice. But even if she could tell him what choice to make she didn't know how happy he would be with it.

Rin sat there thinking about all of this not having made one mark on the scrolls that badly needed to be corrected. And she didn't know when Sesshomaru walked in except that he asked her, "Are the records that bad?"

Rin's head snapped up and she looked at him with a guilty look on her face. He had caught her daydreaming and not working. She immediately looked down at the scroll in front of her and then the scrolls spread all over her table in the library before back up at him. "I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru. I will get to work on them right away."

She grabbed a scroll trying to make it look like she was going to do something important but his hand took the scroll from under her hand that she had been doodling on while thinking. He looked at it, and Rin wondered if she had written something down on it. His eyebrows furrowed for just a second and then his face went completely passive. When he handed her the scroll back she worried because he was giving her that strange look that lately had started to make her mind tingle with euphoria.

Her eyes traveled down to the scroll to see her drawing her of sitting in a field of flowers with him, and immediately she knew why he had furrowed his eyebrows. He was sitting there with his hand on her pregnant belly while she smiled at him. It was the dream she had last night. The dreams had come so frequently she wondered if they were a sign of what the future had in store for her. Was she to become another demon's concubine and Sesshomaru's lover?

Fear started to spread through Rin's heart and then through her body. He had seen this rather intimate moment from her dream that was contrary to everything he believed. Sesshomaru would never consider having sex with her, much less fathering a child!

Rin threw the scroll under a number of scrolls and gathered them up in a pile. Her fingers were so frenzied that she knocked over the bottle of ink. She grabbed an ink stained towel she kept around for such emergencies and went to drop it on the pool of liquid when Sesshomaru gently grabbed her hand. Rin looked up rather surprised only to see that his softened face was now concentrating on her hand and the ink spill that he was now cleaning up with the towel even though her fingers still clutched it. As soon as the ink was now sopped up in the towel Rin tried to take her hand out from under his. The contact of his skin against her made her skin tingle and brought about strange sensations in her gut.

Slowly Lord Sesshomaru took his hand off of the towel and his gaze returned to her face causing Rin to blush. To hide the blush Rin picked up the towel quickly and stood up making a move towards the door, but Sesshomaru's words stopped her, "Are you afraid to be around me now?" He had actually let some emotion slip into his voice, and he seemed rather worried more than amused or upset.

Rin turned her hand up so that she could look at the ink stain instead of him. "I just need to get this to the wash house." She left the room and then pressed her body up against the wall while taking deep breaths. Her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest. The sound of Sesshomaru walking towards the door made Rin jump ten feet into the air, and then she found herself running away from the main house and in the direction of the wash house.

She personally washed the towel taking her time as she scrubbed the fresh ink off and into the water all the while staining the soap. It took her ten minutes before she deemed the current washing techniques as unable to save the once white towel. She was glad for those ten minutes because it gave her something else to concentrate on instead of on the subject that had been popping up in her mind all too much anymore.

And as Rin hung the towel onto the line she heard Sen calling out her name. "Rin," Sen greeted her with a somewhat concerned look on her face. Rin looked up at her friend and gave a weak smile. She wanted so badly to talk to Sen about what had just happened, but she worried that Sen might tell her something that she wasn't ready to accept yet, something that could only end in heartbreak.

"Do you need me for something?" Rin asked her innocently despite the fact that Sen's face was clearly masked in concern. "Did something happen?"

Sen pulled Rin in for a hug and stroked her hair like a mother would do. "I guess Lord Sesshomaru came to give you the bad news, but you ran off on him. He asked me to talk to you." Rin felt rather embarrassed now because Sesshomaru had meant to talk to her about something serious and he couldn't get it out because she had run off like a scared child.

"The Lady of the Western Lands sent out the invitations for Lord Sesshomaru's mating ceremony the day after you returned," Sen explained. She probably had no idea that Sesshomaru had told her himself that it would happen. "It will be four and a half months from now. He is leaving in a couple of weeks for his three month border patrol and then we have only one month to get everything prepared."

Rin pulled away from Sen and said to her, "What's so wrong about that unless his mate will have me thrown out of the castle? Don't worry; he wouldn't allow that because he is still the most powerful person in all of the Western Lands." Rin felt and sounded so confident in her lord despite the fact that she could feel a squeezing pressure in her heart. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, Rin was starting to understand that she was actually jealous of his future mate. He would never feel the same for Rin as she was starting to feel for him, so she could never be his mate. That, however, didn't mean that she couldn't still be his friend, or even his lover if given the chance.

Sen shook her head slowly a couple of times before taking Rin's chin in her right hand to hold her gaze. "You don't understand, Rin. She has nominated his third choice." Rin raised her eyebrows in wonderment. She wondered if this was the choice that Sesshomaru had said was unthinkable to make. Just then Rin noticed the washing ladies all staring at her, some giggling but all interested in seeing Rin's reaction to what Sen had to say. "It's you," Sen said seriously.

A wave of sensations hit Rin, and her brain was unable to grab a hold of even one. In the back of her mind she could hear the voice of reason telling her to not let everyone see her emotions, to keep them hidden behind the mask of indifference that Sesshomaru had all too often placed upon his face. Her eyes lulled about the room, first onto Sen's worried face, and then moving about the room at the faces of the arrogant female demons who couldn't wait to see her leave.

Rin backed out of Sen's reach slowly and said to her calmly, "I guess we have to start getting me ready for this ceremony." Her voice had been so void of emotions it seemed to scare everyone there. She held her head high and looked down at the other women in the room as she exited the wash house and walked towards the library.

Sen followed right after her and tried to stop Rin, but Rin was intent on getting away from everyone. "I need to get back to the library. I have work to do," Rin announced to her. She pulled out of Sen's hands but hoped that Sen would follow her. Remembering the ink bottle she requested of Sen, "Could you go to the storehouse and get me another bottle of ink and another towel? I spilled some in the library earlier." She watched Sen smile at her and then agree to do so. Rin continued walking towards the main house, but she was well aware of all the eyes that now watched her. She hadn't been the center of attention like this since she first arrived.

The library was still empty when Rin got in there, and for the most part the scrolls were still in the messy pile she had tossed them into. Slowly she spread them out all over the table hoping that no one had come in and gone through them. That drawing was still at the bottom of the pile, or at least it was when she left. But when she got to the bottom of the pile it wasn't there anymore. Finally her emotions started to catch up with her again, and she banged her head against the table, tears now threatening to well up in her eyes. Instead of letting them fall she screamed out of frustration but into the scrolls so that Sesshomaru wouldn't hear and come running thinking she was being threatened. Now that she was his third choice he would be forced to protect her at any cost in order to save face, but he would not likely want to save her now that he knew she was developing feelings for him.

The door to the library opened up and then slid closed again before a set of footsteps was heard coming towards her. "I have the ink," Sen informed her before coming around a set of shelves that blocked Rin's view to the door. Sen set the bottle on the table next to the now nearly empty bottle, and then she handed Rin the towel.

Rin put the towel next to her on the floor and looked up at Sen, who was sitting down on her knees across the table from Rin. Rin tried to act like everything was fine by saying, "I guess Akihiko did the best he could considering his lack of education." She gestured to the scrolls lying about that she knew she would have to fix before she could even get started on the work that needed to be done today.

But Sen wasn't that easily fooled, so she asked Rin, "Do you understand that you will not be able to do this for much longer?" Rin wanted to curse at the woman from trying to remind her that her life was falling apart right in front of her eyes. "You will most likely be handed down to the Lord of the Eastern Lands since he is the weakest of the four lords." Rin glared at her remembering how Lord Isao treated women like possessions.

Rin dipped her pen in the nearly empty bottle of ink and crossed out a number before correcting it and then the total at the bottom of the column. "Do you believe that dreams can be predictive of the future?" she asked Sen as she concentrated on the scroll. She was sure that Sen found this to be an odd question.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Rin scratched out another number and wrote the correct number down. "I have dreamt that I will become his concubine, but Lord Sesshomaru will get me pregnant." Rin quickly glanced up to take a look at Sen's shocked face. "I wonder if that's what's supposed to happen." She was doing everything in her power to sound cold and emotionless.

Sen whispered to her, "Has something happened between you and Lord Sesshomaru that I don't know about?" She was not leaning in close to Rin so as to keep the conversation between themselves even though no one else was in the room.

"He told me that his future self thinks he should mate with me, but his pride won't allow it." She dipped her pen in the inkwell again and then tapped it against the rim to free of it of the excessive liquid.

"What about you?" Sen whispered to her. "What about your feelings?"

Rin turned bright red with embarrassment when she remembered what had happened today with Sesshomaru. "I don't know what's going on with me. I don't understand most of what has happened lately." She finally let her emotions crack through. She was thoroughly confused, and she needed someone to explain it to her.

Sen moved around to the other side of the table and put an arm around Rin's shoulders and pressed Rin close to her. "Just explain everything to me. Everything from the start of the trip through today."

Rin dropped the pen on the scroll not caring that it might leave an ink smudge or stain. Her tears were threatening to pour from her eyes, but these next few months she would have to hold them in. "I found the letter Lord Sesshomaru in the future had written to himself and requested me to give to him. That was when I first noticed how good he looked standing with only a blanket wrapped around his waist." Her cheeks heat up in a deeper blush as she remembered vividly the sight of him.

She continued on feeling Sen's hands running through her hair soothingly. "There was a look in his eyes I couldn't understand. It's so strange, so foreign to him, and it made me nervous. He insisted then on telling me that the letter is trying to convince him not to make the mistake of mating with one of the demon women and to mate with me instead. And for a second I wondered if he wanted me to also convince him.

"And things were normal when we had Lord Isao's concubine with us, but I thought when we were there he looked at me at one point as they talked about his mating. I guess he looked at me because he knew I was the third choice when Lord Isao's daughter was the second choice. But my heart sped up so fast.

"And things were fine again until this morning. When he came in this morning I had been thinking and doodling. I guess I had drawn a picture of him and a pregnant me sitting in a field of flowers. I didn't realize it until he had picked it up and furrowed his eyebrows and then handed it back to me. I was so embarrassed that I tried to pack up everything as quickly as I could to get away from him, but I spilled the ink. When I tried to clean it up he put his hand on top of mine and every nerve in my hand...He held my hand until the ink was cleaned up. I had to get out of there as quickly as I could because my heart was pounding so hard and I could hardly breathe."

Rin let out a gush of air having finished her rapid speech. Not realizing it, Rin was actually leaning heavily on the table and panting. The exhaustion of dealing with all it alone was getting to be too much for her. She balled the fabric of her hamaka in her right hand as she pressed it against her wildly beating heart.

Sen pat Rin's back a few times before rubbing up and down the full extent for a minute. "Oh, Rin," she barely breathed out with concern thick in her voice. "Rin, honey, I'm so sorry." Rin's body started to shake violently as she tried to suppress all of the tears that needed desperate escape. Sen's claws pulled a strand of hair off of her face and behind her ear. "Rin, you finally find love only to lose it."

Hearing Sen's words caused Rin to finally lose control of her emotions. The tears gushed out of her eyes and fell into her lap and down her face. Sen pulled Rin's face towards her and rested it on her shoulder. Rin slowly moved her body to face Sen so that she could comfortably cry into her friend's shoulder. She felt so completely weak and vulnerable right now, and if Sesshomaru saw her like this he would despise her even more than he already did.

A pair of large hands moved Rin from Sen's shoulder to rest the side of her face on a broad chest. The hands moved to her shoulders to hold her close to the body's warmth. She could feel Sen's smaller hands rub her upper arms up and down a few times. A large hand moved from Rin's shoulder leaving that spot feeling horribly cold. The arm it was connected to moved a few times causing the sleeve to brush against her face, and then the hand rested on her shoulder again while Sen got up and walked away.

She could smell his strong musky and yet earthy scent, so she knew that her lord was now comforting her. But her mind was too clouded to understand the intentions behind his uncharacteristic behavior. And when her tears dried and her body still shook from the sobs she heard him say to her caringly, "I'm sorry." She grabbed onto his hamaka balling the fabric tightly in her fists as she held onto him. "It was never my intention to make you another's possession."

Rin pulled away from him realizing that he didn't know why she was crying. She wanted him, and he didn't know. He pulled out a scroll that had been tucked in his obi and handed it to Rin. She wiped the remaining moisture from her eyes and face with the large sleeve of her hamaka before opening the scroll. Inside was the picture she had drawn earlier that day. He had taken it with him, and she had almost forgotten that it had been missing.

"Where did you get the idea for this drawing?" he asked her as his soft hands lifted her face up towards his so that she could look him in the eyes.

Rin swallowed the lump in her throat and moistened her lips before saying to him, "I've been having these dreams for a long time." Although she couldn't look down at her hands she tried to roll up the scroll.

His gaze was so intent, and his face was so filled with emotion. "You have been dreaming of the outcome if I chose Setsuko this time." Rin pulled back from him rather stunned by his words. He reached for her again but this time cupped his hand around her cheek. "The letter states that I have made a number of decisions and time keeps repeating itself over because I keep changing the letter in the future to change my mind in the past. The first time you didn't return back to me until later in life. By then I already had a mate, and you spent your remaining years in a human village.

"The second time I chose Chiyo, and she behaved just like my mother. In this time loop you end up dying at Lord Isao's hands because he doesn't understand that humans cannot handle the torture demons can. I end up spending my whole life despising Chiyo for your death. The third time I have chosen Setsuko, and we have an affair. But you become pregnant, and I get you away only to have to leave you in a human village. I cannot see you or our daughter because they are watching me to find out where you are.

"But this time I will not do that to you. I will find a way for you to live peacefully with Lord Isao." If Sesshomaru had thought that would make her feel better he was wrong. Instead anger coursed through her body upon the implications of his words. "It seems that I am destined to fall in love with you no matter the choice," he said to her despite seeing the anger flaring up in her face.

Rin pushed his hands away from her and staggered to her feet. "You are destined to love me, yet you always reject me! If you loved me you would mate with me instead of leaving me to become the sexual toy of someone else!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but she didn't care if the Lady heard her.

He looked up at her with longing instead of anger. "I cannot choose you, Rin. You're a human, and I am a demon lord." He acted like it was something so casually, almost like a demon lord couldn't develop feelings for a human.

Shaking her head violently Rin backed away from him. She couldn't listen to him anymore. She couldn't listen to him trying to rationalize her feelings all the while ignoring the fact that he didn't feel what he thought he did. "I do love you though," he whispered out huskily.

The words hung in the air threatening to tear Rin's very soul apart. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and then opened them again hoping to see everything changed, but she wasn't dreaming this time. The next words from her mouth were so cruel and so easy for her to speak, "I hate you!" And she saw that they actually hurt him because sadness overcome him, and in her anger she actually felt good watching his heart break likes hers had. "I hate you!" she repeated hoping to see if it would further hurt him.

He stood up and closed the distance between them as his hands rested on her back and pulled her close to him. "Rin, you don't mean that." He sounded so desperate, and it made Rin cringe inside. Before this moment she couldn't have imagined that it was possible to both love and hate some one at the same time.

Taking her hands she violently pushed him away from her like she had done to Sango the last time she had seen Sango. He didn't move, but he seemed rather shocked by her reaction to him. "I hate you, Lord Sesshomaru! I hate you for lying to me! I hate you for convincing me to come back here all the while telling me that I would be happy all so you could mate some whore you'll never be happy with!" Her rather unsteady legs almost tripped as she turned around, but she regained her balance before running from him. The fire of hatred spread through her soul and devoured her.


	5. Deadly Hope

When Rin got back to her room she slumped to the floor in a heap. Hearing him say that he loved her was supposed to be romantic and memorable, but his damned pride only got in the way. Now she wished she had never fallen for him. "Rin," Sen called softly from the hallway. Her voice seemed strangely optimist puzzling Rin. Slowly Rin picked herself up and dusted herself off before opening the door for her friend. "I talked to Lord Sesshomaru just a couple of seconds ago, and he asked me if I would be your lady-in-waiting for the next several months until the ceremony." She grinned from ear to ear, so Rin wondered what in the world she had missed in all of this. Hadn't Sen heard his confession of love and hatred?

Shaking her head slightly and rubbing her forehead with her fingers she asked Sen, "What?" Her hands drooped over her face rubbing her cheeks harshly as they slid down and eventually to her sides.

"You don't look so good," Sen commented while pressing the back of her hand against Rin's forehead. "You don't have a fever," she informed Rin.

Rin roughly took Sen's hands from her forehead and pushed them towards Sen. "Of course I don't have a fever. I'm not sick." Her harsh words caused the smile on her friend's face to wipe off to then be replaced with a worried look. "Lord Sesshomaru just fucked up my day right after his mother did!" She threw her hands up in the air before walking to the other side of the room and kept her back to Sen.

"But if he didn't care about you he wouldn't have held you in the library, nor would he have asked me to be your lady-in-waiting." She must have stayed in place because Rin couldn't hear Sen move an inch.

Turning on heel quickly Rin asked Sen entirely confused, "What in the hell does a lady-in-waiting have to do with anything?" She raised an eyebrow for a second before lowering it.

Sen's smile returned as she said, "That means that he wants you to behave like Chiyo and Setsuko. You don't have to work anymore, and I am to wait on your every command." Ah, so in other words it almost meant that Sen would get a break from her every day back breaking work! But why would he want to allow her, the human, to behave like the other potential mates? Is this some way of apologizing for being a complete ass? If so, it wouldn't exactly mean that he wouldn't let his pride get in the way.

It seemed that Rin was quite deep in thought for awhile since Sen asked her, "Are you okay?" while placing her hands on Rin's shoulders.

Rin's head popped up to look at Sen and she smiled at her. "I guess I should just enjoy this time to relax since I don't know what's going to happen when I become a concubine." She knew she sounded ridiculously stupid, but maybe it was best to put up a front as long as Sesshomaru was going to behave this way. "So what do the ladies do most of the day?"

"Primp themselves," Sen laughed. "It doesn't help them much though."

Rin looked down at herself and noticed her shabby servants outfit was not exactly ideal for someone who was soon to become a concubine of a lord. "Do you think I could get some better kimonos?"

Sen wrapped her arm around Rin's shoulders and pulled her towards the door. "That's the first thing we need to do. You will need special kimonos for the night before the display because there will be a dinner for all of the lords and the nobles. You'll be expected to sit with the other three and let others look you over. Then the next night the lords will want you to entertain them to help them make up their minds. And you'll need a special set of ornamental robes for the ceremony." Rin allowed Sen to pull her towards the tailor so that she could be measured.

The tailor announced to her that her every day kimonos would be ready for her in a few days while the fancier kimonos would take some weeks. So three days Rin and Sen returned to the tailor to find four brand new kimonos ready for her. Rin put one on immediately and was pleased with how well it fit.

And for the most part Rin started to enjoy being idle. She couldn't see herself doing it all the time, but after the drama in her life she needed some time to just relax. Taking some scrolls with her she and Sen would often sit in the shade of the garden and enjoy the temperate spring weather and the beauty of the world starting to grow around them.

Some days when Rin was sitting in the gardens she felt like she was being watched intently. She knew not who it was though because the gardens sat behind the main house. If it was Sesshomaru, she could only hope he was agonizing over letting his pride get in the way. But more likely it was either the Lady of the Western Lands, Chiyo, or Setsuko watching her with hatred at how she was now able to behave like a woman of standing. This was the demon court, and no human had ever had any standing amongst demons short of InuTashio's concubine, Izayoi, who was not well liked either.

Sesshomaru didn't show his face to Rin again until the day before his trip. She had heard from Jaken that he was bringing Chiyo and Setsuko along with him to show them the extent of the Western Lands, but he had never once mentioned the idea of her coming along. When he approached her she had been sitting until a sakura tree admiring the buds as they started to open. Sen sat nearby watching the sky as the sun slowly crawled overhead. Rin hadn't even known he was there until she heard Sen suddenly move. "I need to speak with Rin alone," she heard a deep rumbling voice say.

Sen, who had moved to a bowing position, stood up and walked away towards the main house. Rin hoped that Sen wouldn't go far because she didn't care to have to chase after her if Sesshomaru were to do something foolish again. But Sesshomaru said nothing nor made a move for a few minutes. After a minute Rin gave up and started reading the scroll in her lap. It contained the historical accounts of Sesshomaru's great grandfather, the first Lord of the Western Lands. "Rin," he finally said to her all the while looking over at the main house.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," she answered him sounding completely innocent.

He looked at her now when he requested of her, "Would you please walk with me?" His expression loosened to allow some emotion through. He seemed rather nervous.

Rin stood up while answering, "If that would help you."

They walked away from the main house and deeper into the gardens before he said to her, "I'm sure Jaken has told you that I am taking the other two ladies with me when I do my border patrol." As Rin looked down she could see out of the corner of her eye his hand clench and then release.

"I am quite aware." She looked up again and ahead trying not to sneak a glance at him.

"I…" he started before stopping and sniffing the air carefully. She was now sure that he was likely nervous because someone was ease dropping on them. When he finished sniffing the air he continued, "I am afraid that I cannot take you along with me on this year's border patrol. It seems that my mother is adamant on you staying here so that I can't help you escape. She has even gone so far as to offer you etiquette lessons so you will be prepared for the festivities." The frown on his face showed that he seemed rather discontented with the idea.

Rin didn't know how to take the news. He was supposed to be more powerful than his mother, yet it seemed that he had trouble telling her "no". But perhaps she could take advantage of the situation. He was probably expecting her to turn down the offer and get mad at him, but she could easily make him regret not standing up to the Lady. "You can tell your mother that I will accept her invitation. While Sen was a good teacher, your mother has been in my place at one of these events. Well…she has been at one of these but she obviously was the chosen one instead of the choice thrown in there so that he could cowardly get rid of her."

A spark ignited in Sesshomaru's gaze before quickly smoldering. He grabbed a hold of her uppers arms and held her there in order to keep her from leaving him. "Is that what you think? Do you think I did that to get rid of you?" His voice was broken and fearful.

Rin winched thinking about the pain she was inflicting upon him, but the vengeful voice in her head said that she needed to make him hurt to make him understand how much he hurt her. "You certainly didn't do anything to stop her despite knowing from your letter that she would nominate me." She held her head high as she spoke coldly to him the words of truth. And she watched him carefully to see what nonverbal signals he would give off.

And indeed he did give her plenty of signals. He pulled her close to his body and rested his cheek upon the crown of her head while his left hand reached up to stroke her long ebony tresses. "I tried, Rin. I tried everything I could to convince her not to do it, but she had long ago made up her mind." Rin was almost smothered by his fuzzy pelts over his shoulder. He seemed too intent on holding her that her anger started to ebb away.

"Sometimes I wish you had left me alone in the future," she whispered into his armor. "Sometimes I wish you would have let me come when I was thirty and you had made your decision. I don't want to belong to anyone else but you." A tear slipped from her eyes and ran down her cheek as she became completely honest with him.

Sesshomaru lifted his index finger so that the joint rested just under her chin so he could use it to push her face up towards him. He then flicked the tear away and dried it with his sleeve of his hamaka. "I wish things were easier, Rin. I wish I could take you right now as my mate and not have to worry about how people would treat either of us, but in reality the world is cruel to lovers." He rested his finger under her chin again but to keep her from looking down again. Slowly his face lowered down to her and he captured her in a desperate kiss.

At first Rin was rather resistant to give into him, but his kiss became increasing desperate causing her to stop resisting. Rin didn't know how long she kissed him before her senses came to her. She stopped her lips' movements and pushed away from him lightly at first. He wouldn't let go, so she pushed against him harder finally causing him to stop and look at her. "We can't do this. It'll just make it harder on me when the day comes for me to become his." His, the bastard demon that wasn't the calm lord that now held her in his embrace.

He slowly dropped his arms to his sides allowing Rin to back up from him. She wanted to say something to change the awkwardness of the situation, so she reiterated, "Please tell your mother that I am willing to take her etiquette lessons as soon as possible." He nodded his head in understanding, so she thought this was the best time if any to walk away from him. She made it ten paces away before turning to say to him sweetly, "I hope you have a nice journey." He seemed rather shocked by her sudden tenderness, but Rin wouldn't let that get to her. She once again walked away from him hoping to join Sen under the sakara tree again.

--

The three months Sesshomaru was away were very hard on Rin, and it was not because he was missing. His mother had insisted on being extra hard on her for everything she did. Despite doing everything to best of anyone's ability, his mother insisted that she wasn't good enough because humans couldn't handle the needed discipline for anything she threw at Rin. And yet Rin knew exactly what to say to push the woman's buttons back.

And by the end of the three months she was glad that she only had one month left at the castle. While she would greatly miss Sen and Sen's mate, she knew that she wouldn't miss the Lady of the Western Lands, especially the woman's fussing and prejudice. Of course she did have sick fantasies of producing that woman half-demon grandchildren and the torture it would inflict upon her.

At the end of the three months Jaken and the other two ladies returned back to the castle but without Lord Sesshomaru. This greatly angered the Lady, but people just worked around her making sure everything was still done on time in case he would return back in time for his own mating ceremony.

And he did return back the night before the lords were to arrive at the castle. No one knew when he returned because he came back while most of the castle was still asleep. That was, no one knew except for Rin. While it was still very dark and far from sunrise he woke her up. At first she didn't know who it was, so she yelped out loud only to find a hand covering her mouth lightly so as to muffle her scream. Puzzled about how the person didn't seem to want to hurt her she reached out her hand for the hand in front of her and she felt the claws on the large hand. Her eyes were unable to see him in the pitch dark, so she reached up then to feel the face of the person in her room. She sighed when she realized it was Lord Sesshomaru now sitting before her. "What are you doing in here?" she whispered to him. Rin was afraid to talk out loud because of the thin walls between the rooms. If she started talking in her normal voice volume she might awaken Sen's mate and cause him to come running to her rescue.

"I have brought this back for you," he whispered back to her grabbing her hand and placing it on something leather and rounded. Leather was not something prevalent in the Feudal Era, so she instantly became curious to know what it was that she now had in her hand. Feeling around a little she could tell it had a strap and a flap that opened up.

She could feel her clothes from the Modern Era on the inside along with her cell phone and mp3 player. "You went back to the human village to get my bag?" She knew he hated humans, so why would he go into a human village for something she had left behind so long ago?

"The old priestess informed me that she was holding it for you in case you returned back for it some day," he informed her without answering her question. Rin frowned because she had hoped he would tell her why he had brought it back instead of expecting her to figure it out. "I thought it might bring you comfort when you are away from here."

Rin gave a half-hearted smile at the gesture. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru, but I don't think these things will bring me much happiness when I'm at his castle since you and Sen won't be there." She closed the bag's flap and then tried to fasten it before remembering that it was bulging too much for her to do so. She was startled when she felt the insides of his hands stroking her cheeks, his claws trying not to knick her. He didn't know how much torture this caused her, but she must have been giving off that vibe because he suddenly removed his hand and then abruptly left.

She went back to sleep fully intent on looking through her bag in the morning. So when she got up she rushed to see everything before she would be forced to head to her beauty treatments for the upcoming night. Inside she found a couple of her favorite shirts and skirts. She had also taken along her cell phone, her mp3 player, and a whole package of spare batteries. While she was getting ready after her bath she listened to her mp3 player remembering all of the J-pop she had long missed in the absence of music.

--

The dinner approached all too soon, and she found herself among with Setsuko and Chiyo greeting a number of nobles that had lined up to meet with them. Almost all of the nobles had scowled when they had seen Rin. Most grumbled openly about how despicable it was to have a human taking place in their demon tradition; the rest just ignored her. And sitting through dinner was complete torture because she was left sitting there all alone since they all refused to sit near the human. Sesshomaru, as the host of the event, was seated at the head of the room with the other three lords.

Lord Isao looked rather proud since one of his daughters was amongst Sesshomaru's potential mates. It didn't seem to disturb him much that he would be taking home a human mate. Instead he gave some sickening glances at Rin, his eyes roaming over her body and resting upon her breasts. And as much as Rin wanted to cross her arms across her chest to hide her breasts, she knew better than to do that because the Lady was watching her carefully to make sure she stuck to her etiquette training.

The next strongest lord to Lord Isao was Lord Hideaki, Lord of the Southern Lands. He was a squirrel demon, and Rin assumed that he was probably the grey squirrel breed because his hair and long bushy tail were both grey. He seemed to be the oldest of the three lords, but he appeared to be in excellent physical shape.

The strongest lord was Lord Ryota, Lord of the Northern Lands. He was another dog demon, but Rin could easily tell that he was a husky with long black hair, white skin, and brilliant blue eyes. He seemed the warmest of the three from how much he smiled and because he was the only one who had greeted her.

As Rin watched the lords as they conversed with each other about diplomatic things she heard Lord Hideaki joke, "It seems for awhile that you had become more organized with your trade routes." He slapped Sesshomaru on the back, which Rin could tell Sesshomaru did not much care for. "But I have heard that a human has been helping you. Since when did a human learn to take care of such matters?" Lord Hideaki seemed rather interested in knowing not out of judgment but more out of curiosity, or so it seemed to Rin.

Sesshomaru's eyes seemed to dart in Rin's direction before looking forward again as he said in his stoic tone, "Rin was taught a great deal during the time she was with my half-brother in the future." He said it as if it were something that happened every day, or in the Modern Era it would be comparable to saying that she went overseas to study.

Lord Isao laughed heartily as did Lord Hideaki, but Lord Ryota cracked a smile since he seemed more reserved than the other two. "You can't seriously expect us to believe that the human has been the future," Lord Isao commented between breaths. "Is she a special human who can travel through time?"

Rin wanted more than anything to defend Lord Sesshomaru by insisting that she had, but she knew that Lord Sesshomaru didn't need any help at the moment. He, however, did have nearly the entire room as audience to the conversation. "Rin," he said now addressing her. "Do you still have your bag from the future?" Rin nodded her head, so Sesshomaru hailed a servant to go to her.

When the servant approached her he inquired of her, "Where is this bag that Lord Sesshomaru is talking about?" He was very stiff and formal at that moment.

"In my room," Rin answered him. "You'll recognize it when you see it." She smiled at him hoping to ease his mood but it didn't work.

Within five minutes he brought it back and handed it to Rin. She placed it on the floor besides her, as everyone was seated as they ate, and she started rifling through it looking for her cell phone and mp3 player. They might not believe her clothes were from the future, but they sure as hell would believe that the electronics were. Lord Ryota stood up and approached Rin sitting before her. Rin bowed her head in recognition of his importance. She looked up into his kind eyes after he asked her, "What do you have with you, my dear?"

Rin held out her hands with her electronic items sitting in her open palms. The other two lords now came over and sat before her. Lord Isao picked up the phone and looked it over, curiosity about the strange item written all over his face. "In the future the technology is very advanced," Rin explained to them. She could tell that they hadn't heard the word "technology" before.

She smiled and handed the mp3 player to Lord Ryota before describing the many wonders of the future. The whole room hung upon every word. Everyone in the room except for Sesshomaru, his mother, and the other two potential mates. She opened up her cell phone to reveal the keypad and then the texting keyboard. "This is used to call other people who have similar items. You can send them a letter by typing on this keyboard," she demonstrated as she typed her name on the keyboard. "Or you can call them where ever they are and talk to them as if they were standing in front of you talking."

Lord Ryota had handed the mp3 player over to Lord Hideaki while Rin talked, so now he held it out to Rin so she could explain to them its function. "And this plays music. Do you remember me telling you about how you could sit in front of a box and pull up information from all over the world?" The lords nodded in remembrance.

"You can find music made from all over the world and put it on here using a cord that you plug into both the computer and this. Then you put the headphones in your ears." She leaned over and put a bud in one of Lord Hideaki's ear while holding the other one in her hand before pushing play. The song cold be heard coming gently to Rin's lesser hearing, but it seemed that it was too loud for Lord Hideaki's hearing. She took it out of his ear and turned up the sound so that they could all hear it better with the headphones held out before her. "And you press the play button and music comes out." The lords were mesmerized by the rhythm of the music.

"How is this possible?" Lord Ryota questioned her. Rin turned off the music and then opened up the covering for the batteries and pulled one out for them to see. She then explained to them how a battery worked.

Lord Isao pompously announced, "The demons of the future have learned a great deal to make such interesting things."

Rin's face dropped when Sesshomaru announced to them, "My half-brother told me that there are very few demons still living in the future. The humans will eventually take over."

They all looked over to Rin as if expecting her to refute his claim, but she couldn't lie to them and make Sesshomaru look like a fool. So she told them the truth. "Three hundred years from now the humans will come in possession of weapons from the mainland that are ten times more deadly than a sword and can kill from a long distance." The lords did not seem pleased with her answer.

Lord Isao slammed his fist on the floor before yelling at her, "You expect me to sit around and listen to you tell me that humans will one day rule over us?" Rin could feel the color drain out of her face, and she actually feared for her life at that moment.

"Calm down!" Sesshomaru spoke harshly raising the volume of his voice. He still looked disinterested in the conversation, but Rin knew his senses were likely on high alert. When Lord Isao calmed his temper Sesshomaru spoke again, "Most of you will be killed because of your arrogance."

"And what about you?" Lord Isao fired back.

Lord Sesshomaru took a slow sip of his sake as if it were more interesting than the conversation at the moment. "I am told that I will survive to live in Rin's future, and I will be quite successful in the human world without their knowing of my heritage." The entire room looked over at Rin to assess whether Sesshomaru was stating the truth. Whatever her expression it seemed to satisfy their curiosity.

Lord Isao stormed out of the room leaving the other two lords still sitting with Rin. Lord Ryota smiled at Rin before excusing himself to sit down in front of his sake. Lord Hideaki said nothing but followed behind Lord Ryota back to the head of the room. Rin let out a small sigh before turning off her phone and putting it back in her bag. She put the headphones buds in her ears and listened to her music while the entire room moved around her. The Lady of the Western Lands was glaring at Rin, but she didn't care right now. Right now Rin wanted to be alone in her head with just the music… and maybe Lord Sesshomaru as long as he was kissing her.

--

The next evening Rin found herself sitting before the lords again. The display earlier that day had shown that the order of strength between the four lords had not changed. Sesshomaru had easily defeated the other three at once within a matter of minutes, with Lord Isao the first down in only a minute. While the display was mostly for the mating lord to demonstrate his strength, the evening dinner for the lords and the three mating choices was the chance for the females to display their abilities.

Rin had used her training she from Sesshomaru's mother to perform the tea ceremony and to entertain them. Lord Isao wasn't too thrilled to listen to Rin's stories about the future, but Lord Ryota kept asking Rin to explain how the future was laid out and about the many inventions she hadn't even talked about the day before.

The other two ladies actually could have used the Lady of the Western Lands' training because they seemed a bit unsure of themselves sometimes. They also didn't seem to do much to keep the men entertained, but perhaps they figured that they didn't need to do much to make sure that they were not the one not chosen last. Setsuko already knew that if Lord Ryota did not choose her she would have to be chosen by Lord Hideaki because her father could not take her as his own concubine.

But Rin hoped that Lord Ryota's interest and kindness towards her would translate into his choosing of her as his concubine. She might not be the strongest, but she seemed like the sensible choice if one wanted a concubine who could easily entertain him and his guests or help out with such important matters as the records in the lord's absence. She could be so much more than a concubine.

A few hours after dinner concluded Rin could feel herself becoming rather tired. She could see in Sesshomaru's eyes that he was a bit concerned about her condition, so perhaps that was why he decided to asked the lords to take their pick of the ladies as early as he did. All eyes in the room turned to Lord Ryota. He looked between all three women and then his eyes rested on Rin. At first he gave her a smile, which caused Rin's heart to leap into her throat, but then it disappeared. "I wish I could make this decision based on the personality on the female. If that were the case I would choose Rin because in her short life she has learned well how her place, and she has a wealth of stories and knowledge from her life in the future. But unfortunately the females in a lord's harem as a reflection of his strength, so I am forced to chose a demon mate. That is why my choice is Chiyo."

Rin tried not to look disappointed. She should have known better than to get her hopes up. She would always just be a human to every demon she came across. Even Lord Sesshomaru couldn't see past her humanity when picking a mate.

It was also not a surprise that Lord Hideaki would have chosen Setsuko had he not been forced to choose her because of who her father was. Lord Isao didn't seem too thrilled with the idea at first of having Rin as his mate, but before Rin left the room for the night he whispered to her, "I shall have pleasure in making you a slave, human. You will soon learn to fear demons." His lips were twisted in a cruel smile that made Rin shiver in fear. She looked over to Sesshomaru to see if he would possibly rescue her at the moment, but he was acting like he wasn't interested in her right now beside ease dropping on the conversation. Rin frowned hoping that Sesshomaru saw her and then left the room. When she got out of the main house she ran as best as she could in the heavy robes towards her room in the servants' quarters.

Rin collapsed onto the floor when she got into her room. She panted trying to get oxygen back into her muscles. Sen came running into the room and slammed the door behind her before kneeling down in front of Rin. It seemed that Sen didn't need to hear anything more to know what had happened; instead she hugged Rin tightly to her. "Lord Ryota said that he would have picked me if it wasn't for my humanity and his damned image!" Rin seethed in anger. "But I guess he's no better than Lord Sesshomaru! And Lord Sesshomaru did nothing when Lord Isao threatened me! He really doesn't care about me!" Her anger overrode all of her other emotions at that moment.

Sen leaned back slightly before digging into the folds of her obi. When she brought her hand back up for Rin to see there now lay in her open palm at small vial of liquid. Rin picked it up and started to examine it even holding it up to the candlelight. "It's a very strong poison," Sen explained to her with a deadly tone. Rin looked over at her best friend and saw that Sen had a mixture of concern and determination in her eyes. "That small amount alone can take down even a strong demon like Lord Sesshomaru. My mate and I agreed that we wanted to give you another option."

Rin wrapped her fingers around the vial so tightly her knuckles started turning white. If this had come from anyone else besides Sen, Rin would have thought it an insult, but Sen would only give it to her to help her ease her suffering. As much as it hurt Rin to be the one this was all happening to, she hadn't really stopped to think that perhaps Sen was also hurting. Rin now pulled Sen into an embrace and whispered to her, "I'm sorry. I've been so selfish lately."

Sen rubbed her hands up and down Rin's back and assured her, "No, you have every right to be upset." Sen had become so much of a mother figure to Rin that even now she couldn't deny Rin her right to hurt. She wondered what Sen would do without her. It would be like losing her own daughter all over again, but unlike Sen's real daughter, who was mated to one of Sesshomaru's top generals, she wouldn't be able to see Rin again.

--

Rin woke up that next morning not remembering how she had gotten onto her futon. The last thing she could remember doing was hugging Sen, so she assumed that she must have fallen asleep on Sen. But before Rin could even get off of her futon her door slid open and a large, imposing figure stepped into her room. Her gaze immediately connected with the amber gaze belong to her lord.

He quickly walked over to her side and sat down before her. A small blush crept across Rin's face as she pulled the sheets up around her. She hadn't even gotten a chance to rinse out her mouth or comb through her hair, but he was still looking at her like she had no flaws in her. "I have finally decided," Sesshomaru announced to her. His deep voice still seemed to thunder in the room despite his lower volume. Rin cocked her head to the side slightly and gave him a puzzled look as to what he could have decided on. "I will pick Setsuko. That is the only way I can rescue from Lord Isao's castle. You may spend the rest of your life in a human village, but I promise you this time that I will not leave you there pregnant with our child." He seemed so concerned about her without fully understanding how cold he still sounded so cold to her.

Rin's eyes darted around the room for the vial of poison Sen had given her the previous night. Her gaze rested on her bag resting near her futon. She crawled over to the bag and opened it to find the vial sitting there atop her clothes. Picking it up gingerly she crawled back to sit in front of Sesshomaru on her knees. She opened up her hand palm side up to show him her possession. "I've decided on another course."

He reached out to touch or grab the vial, but Rin made sure to enclose it in her fist. She could see that her action hurt him, but she wouldn't allow him to take it from her. This was her only salvation today. She would drink its contents right after the ceremony before Lord Isao could take her into his guest room. "Please don't do that, Rin." His voice was full of sadness, and his broken heart was laid out before her in his eyes. "I promise that I will come for you. Just have some patience with me." He reached out to touch her, but Rin pulled back.

"I've waited enough. This is the best decision I can make." She pointed at his chest and said to him, "I hope your letter tells you I die with a smile on my face." Her face and tone were completely serious. Not even the love of her life could convince her to take another path.

He pursed his lips together as he sat there deep in thought. Then without saying anything he stood up and walked to the door. He clearly was unsure of how to respond to her. Rin called out to him, "Sesshomaru." He turned around and smiled at her obviously liking the sound of his name without the title. "Can I kiss you at least one more time?" she questioned him feeling like a silly teenager.

Yet he gratefully accepted her request because he fluidly closed the distance between them and embraced her in a passionate kiss. She was greatly disappointed when they had to pull away for air. He moved closer to kiss her again but realized then that that the other servants were starting to get ready for the day. With only one more touch of the back of his hand against her cheek he was slipping out of the room.

--

Rin watched Sen as she walked over to the beautiful silk robe that had been made just for her for this occasion. Sen carefully picked up the fabric trying to make sure she didn't wrinkle it. Rin held out her arms so that Sen could slip it over the cotton under robe that Rin was now wearing. Once it was on Sen tied it closed and then smoothed it out over Rin's shoulders and down the back.

She did the same with the third and outer robe. Once the final robe was on Sen set about tying the obi into the butterfly pattern. And just like Sen did the first time Rin tried on the servant clothing, she stepped back and looked Rin over approvingly. "You look so beautiful," Sen said as she started to cry. Rin wanted to hug Sen badly right now but knew she couldn't because of her garment. Instead Rin reached out to put her hand on Sen's shoulder only to be interrupted by the sound of the knock on the door. Sen quickly dried her eyes and went to the door. Slowly she slid it open to reveal a guard standing outside. "It is time," Sen announced to Rin.

Rin's eyes darted to where the vial now lay, so Sen went to it and picked it up quickly and concealed it in her hand as she reached out to Rin, who gratefully accepted it and tucked it in between her outer two robes. And slowly the women walked out of the room following the guard to the main house. Sen trailed behind to make sure the train of Rin's outermost robe did not bunch up.

The other two ladies held up the ceremony because it took them longer to get ready, but once they had joined Rin outside of the main house the doors were opened to reveal the great room full of spectators. Even the servants were in attendance! Standing at the head of the room were the three lords and the Lady of the Western Lands. Sesshomaru stood just before them waiting for the ladies to come to him.

Once before him they all knelt before him, but Rin was the only one who stayed in her knelt position. The Lady of the Western Lands had told her it was a sign of respect for the mating potentials to show their complete respect for the lord since it showed that they would respect his authority over them if he were to become their mate. It seemed that Chiyo and Setsuko from the start had trouble realizing their place in Lord Sesshomaru's empire because their standing before him now was one of many signs that they disrespected him.

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru and noticed how his eyes flit over the other two ladies before resting on her despite her low position to him. He looked down at her as if to allow her access to what emotions lay just behind his eyes. While no one, not even his own mother, had gained the ability to read him, Rin had long before deciphered everything he allowed others to see if they only paid attention to him.

And right now he was entirely conflicted. On one hand he felt a tremendous amount of guilt and shame, but on the other hand he loved her completely. It was then that she remembered her first day at his castle as an adult. Sen had told her something about how only she would be able to melt the ice around his heart. She knew she had melted quite an amount of it, but it seemed that she didn't do enough. If she had melted his heart his eyes would only reflect love, not the guilt and shame.

Rin looked forward again now terrified of what she saw. Her future didn't lie with him anymore, and she needed to stop hoping. Her only future now was one of death, and this time her death would not be reversible.

"Lord Sesshomaru," the Lady of the Western Lands called out to her son obviously a little upset that he hadn't stated his choice yet. Indeed he was supposed to announce it just after the ladies knelt before him. "Have you made your choice yet?" Her voice and question were impatient.

Just as she finished her question he answered her, "Chiyo."


	6. Ageless Strength

Rin's heart stopped for a second. Didn't he just say that he wanted to choose Setsuko so that he could rescue her? Was he trying to tell her that he wanted her to drink the poison? It felt like an eternity while she watched the sickening smile cross Chiyo's face as well as the Lady of the Western Lands' face. Yet he was opening his mouth to say something else. "Please join Lord Ryota's side. I will not choose you."

Immediately the room was in an uproar. This wasn't tradition. The first name he called out was supposed to be the name of the woman he chose. Rin's eyes darted around at the faces before her. Sesshomaru seemed so sure of his decision, Lord Ryota and Lord Hideaki seemed a little amused at Sesshomaru's stunt, and Chiyo and the Lady of the Western Lands were incredibly upset. Chiyo's eyes had even become blood red. Since Chiyo didn't move fast enough the guards quickly surrounded her and picked her up like she weighed nothing more than a feather. She was put at Lord Ryota's side where she scowled at Lord Sesshomaru like it would some how kill him.

Lord Isao came up and put his arm around Sesshomaru's shoulders as he congratulated him, "Good choice, son. Setsuko is the finest match for someone as powerful for you." He looked like he had just won some great contest when it was his daughter who had won.

Sesshomaru growled at Lord Isao causing the demon to remember not to touch the greater lord. "I shall not be choosing your daughter either. Please take her to Lord Hideaki," he commanded the guards. Setsuko let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed throughout the packed room as the guards pinned her arms behind her back and carried her up to her new master.

Rin stayed there in her knelt position the entire time watching the scene quite confused. Her heart pound in her chest so hard and so erratically she wondered if she might have a heart attack. He hadn't chosen either of the demon ladies, and that only left her. But he had just earlier today told her that he couldn't mate with her because she was a human.

But everything suddenly cleared up when Sesshomaru turned his eyes on her. The guilt and shame were entirely gone now, and his love for her was now evident to all. The Lady of the Western Lands stepped forward and spoke above the crowd, "Lord Sesshomaru, you cannot seriously be choosing a human to become the Lady of the Western Lands?" Her eyes were now red and she was starting to transform into her true form.

Sesshomaru turned to her and Rin was unable to see what transpired between the two of them, but suddenly the Lady of the Western Lands stopped her transforming but did not change her blood red eyes back to their normal state. "You were the one who nominated her," he spoke to his mother coldly. "You should have known better than to choose a human I have admired knowing the fate of my father and my half-brother." At this Rin let a smile appear upon her face. "But unlike my father and my half-brother, I will not allow it to become a weakness. And if the lords want to challenge me over my decision now, I am willing to kill them to prove I have not become weak."

Lord Ryota and Lord Hideaki, though the next two strongest lords, both made motions that they had no intentions of fighting with Lord Sesshomaru, but Lord Isao acted brashly by challenging Lord Sesshomaru. The two lords stepped outside of the main house in the large space of the courtyard and prepared to fight each other. Most of the nobles, the other two lords, and the Lady of the Western Lands both proceeded to the back of the room so that they would have front row seats to the fighting. The guards held Setsuko and Chiyo in place so that they were unable to leave the places they were now assigned to. And Rin sat upon her knees now waiting for her lover to return. There was no doubt in her mind that Lord Sesshomaru would easily defeat Lord Isao since he had shown them yesterday how easily he could defeat all three of them at once.

Within a couple of minutes Rin heard the crowd returning back to their seats. Lord Sesshomaru swept past Rin to stand now at the front of the room. The other two lords and Sesshomaru's mother all retained their positions behind Sesshomaru now. Rin watched as Sesshomaru sheathed his sword again at his side before he announced, "Send a messenger to the Castle of the Eastern Lands to tell them that their lord was slain at my hands for foolishly challenging me." His pride was at full force now that he had defeated one of his own kind.

He waited a few seconds before looking at Rin again. His gaze had now softened as it landed on her, and he held out his hand for her. Standing up again Rin placed her smaller hand in his and stepped forward so that she could be at his side. He took her other hand in his other hand. "Rin, do I still have a chance at making you my mate?" He sounded a little worried, and it put Rin's heart at ease knowing that he was well aware now that his past actions and words had hurt her.

She flashed him a large, sincere smile as she assured him, "If you are willing to make me your mate before all of these people, how can I turn you down?" She didn't care how many people heard them because she knew that he was finally opening up to her and doing it in such a way to silence all of the skeptics.

He spoke out loud the words that were required of him by tradition, even though tradition had long since been thrown out the window, "Rin, do you accept my offer to become the Lady of the Western Lands, and will you take upon you all of the responsibilities required of you as the Lady of the Western Lands?" He watched her intently as he asked her instead of addressing the crowd.

And Rin knew that she was probably supposed to answer "I do," or something like that, but since tradition had kind of gone to the wayside she answered him, "If being the Lady of the Western Lands is required of me in order to be your mate, I will gladly accept." She could see that he liked her answer because the corners of his lips twitched up slightly in a smile.

Sesshomaru turned to look at the other two lords and waited for them to start the ceremony. His attention turned back to her when the ceremony started. Rin knew not what they were saying since it was all in the demonic language, so instead she stared at her soon-to-be mate. A couple of times during the ceremony he squeezed her hand or gave a small smile, which made her wonder what it was that they had just said.

After twenty minutes Lord Hideaki took a short sword that was handed to him by a servant, and he then handed it to Lord Sesshomaru. Once Lord Ryota had stopped talking he announced, "Now the bonding ceremony." Sesshomaru cut a line across his palm, and the blood started to pool at the surface. Rin watched Sesshomaru hand the short sword back to Lord Hideaki before turning to offer her his hand.

"Drink of my blood," he whispered to her. Rin nodded her head before taking his hand in her own two hands. She folded his hand to give the blood a pathway down as she tilted the hand towards her lips. The blood tasted coppery on her tongue and she wanted to gage over it but wouldn't allow herself. And it seemed like forever that he was asking her to drink it because a minute had passed and he was still watching her intently drinking it. But after that minute her head started to feel very fuzzy and she could hear a sound like the rushing of wind in her ears. Her sight started to become blurry and multicolored spots appeared distorting what vision she did have.

She could feel Sesshomaru's other hand reaching around to hold her lower back as if knowing to support her since her knees were become weak in all of the haze. Yet he still wanted her to continue drinking his blood. After what seemed like several minutes he tilted his hand the other direction and pulled it slowly away from her lips. A servant came to Lord Sesshomaru's side and wrapped his bloodied hand several times with a clean white cloth.

Once he had gotten his hand bandaged Sesshomaru put it behind Rin's back and whispered into her ear, "Are you okay? Are you going to faint?" He sounded very concerned for her right now, so she figured that she must look like she was going to become sick on him.

Rather embarrassed at how her body had reacted she whispered back to him, "I'm so sorry." She looked at him rather worried that he might suddenly regret making her his mate because she was proving to be a weak human right now. But instead he took his hands from her back and looped her arm around his. His other hand held onto her lower arm that was now wrapped around his. She felt like she was stumbling, but she tried her best to take control of her woozy state. He walked rather slowly for her out of the great room and down the hallway to his bed chamber. Once the door was closed behind them Rin's knees finally started to buckle, but Sesshomaru was waiting to catch her. "I'm so sorry," she apologized again but this time with tears coming to her eyes.

"For what?" he questioned her lovingly as he carried her now to their bed. "You have made me proud today."

"But I almost collapsed before all of them all because I was drinking your blood." She was very worried and it was evident in her voice.

Sesshomaru leaned forward and kissed her forehead before saying to her, "Your human body will have trouble dealing with the demon blood that now flows through it. The few humans who have gone through the bonding ceremony have all collapsed before taking in all of the blood they need, but you, Rin, have always been stronger than the rest of your kind." He leaned her forward onto his right arm and his left hand single-handedly untied her obi. The fabric fell into Rin's lap, so he pulled it away and discarded it onto the floor.

A knock was heard at the door, and Sesshomaru called out, "You can come in now, Sen."

Rin was happy to hear Sen's name and even happier to see Sen's happy face as she approached them. Sesshomaru stood Rin up but held her underneath her arms to keep her from slumping to the floor. Carefully the both of them undressed Rin down to the cotton under kimono before getting her tucked into the bed. Sesshomaru kissed Rin's forehead before whispering to her, "You can sleep now, koi." He slowly left the room making sure to look back at her before he slid the door closed.

Sen brushed some hair from Rin's face as Rin yawned. "I'm so happy for you, Rin. I couldn't have asked for a better thing for you than to see you mate with the one you love who clearly loves you back." Rin gave her best friend a sleepy smile before snuggling into the pillow.

--

A few hours later Rin awoke to see Sen still sitting there. Sen was now sewing a beautiful kimono. "Are you feel well enough to eat something?" Sen asked her not even looking up from the pattern she was sewing onto the kimono.

"Where is my mate?" Rin inquired. She had this great longing to see him right now.

Sen now put down the kimono and said to Rin, "He is at dinner with the guests. I can send for your meal if you would like to eat now. It'll probably help you to eat something."

Rin felt disappointed. Now that she was the Lady of the Western Lands, she expected to attend such important functions. "I want to eat, but I will join my mate for dinner." She was determined to carry out her duties to her mate regardless of the weak state her human body was now in.

"You're not well enough," Sen protested. That wasn't enough to stop Rin though. It was a struggle for Rin to sit up on her own, but she knew that Sen wouldn't help her if it demonstrated to her that she wasn't well enough to be leaving the room. "Please stay here and I will have a servant fetch your meal." She got up and moved towards the door.

Before Sen could get to the door Rin called out to her, "I want to join my mate!" She was too determined right now to listen to reason, but something inside of her greatly needed to see her mate. "Please help me get ready." Rin got out of bed and managed to stay steady on her two feet.

Sen seemed a bit resigned to help Rin with her request, but she dressed Rin again in the ornamental robes she wore earlier today and then combed through Rin's hair. And while Rin was able to stand up again, she wasn't fully ready to walk alone, so Sen held her arm out for Rin to cling onto. Rin held onto Sen's arm like she held onto Sesshomaru's arm just hours before as they walked slowly to the great room where everyone was now seated and about to eat.

Rin's heart calmed at the sight of her mate, who seemed to feel her presence because he immediately stood and came to her side. "You are not strong enough. Please go back to bed. They can have your meal brought to you." He was being stern but still caring.

"No," Rin protested. She knew that he was still her lord, but she wanted to make sure he knew that she could not be deterred in this decision. "I want to join you. I'm not so weak that I cannot join my mate for dinner." She looked up at him pleadingly.

His gaze softened upon her words and he held out his arm for her so that she could lean on him instead of Sen. Slowly they made their way to the head of the room while everyone watched them, jaws all dropped. Lord Ryota moved over from his position just to Sesshomaru's right so that Rin could sit down. She hadn't thought about how she would sit down, but Sesshomaru took the lead and picked her up so that he could lay her down gently on the floor next to him before he sat down himself.

Rin knew she couldn't sit on her knees like everyone else in the room, so she sat cross legged since the skirt of the kimono was long enough to still cover her legs entirely. A servant hurriedly brought Rin's meal and placed it before her. Lord Sesshomaru took the first bite, which allowed everyone else to now start eating their own meals. "How are you feeling, Lady Rin?" Lord Ryota asked her in a neutral tone of voice.

"I am a little tired, but otherwise I am fine. Thank you for asking." She smiled at him to assure him that she truly was fine.

Lord Hideaki, who was seated on the other side of Sesshomaru, spoke out loud, "It is quite impressive that you are able to handle the demon blood in your system. Not too many humans have been able to last the entire bonding ceremony much less be able to join their mate for the evening meal." There were several murmurs of concurrence. Rin blushed at the compliment, and she could see a smile start to cross her mate's face as he looked across the room.

Dinner was rather quiet as they all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Once Rin finished her meal Sesshomaru stood up and picked up Rin so he could put her back on her feet. She wanted to protest that she could stay longer, but she knew he was concerned about her physical state right now more than the dinner. She leaned on him again as he took her back to their room. He tucked into the bed again and asked her to go back to sleep.

--

The next morning Rin woke up to see Sesshomaru's amber eyes peering into hers. She smiled at him, and he in return smiled at her. Slowly his hand reached out and he brushed his hand lightly against her cheek. Rin reached up and pressed his hand against her face because his touch was so calm, reassuring, and yet sensual. A yawn escaped her lips as she stretched slightly to wake her muscles. "Do you feel better today?" he asked her.

"Yes," she answered him honestly. All of the grogginess of the previous night was now gone and she actually felt stronger and healthier than she had in her whole life. He leaned forward so that their foreheads were now touching. "Sesshomaru," she called out to him.

"Hm."

"Why did you choose me?" she asked him hoping the question was not rude.

His eyes fluttered open and looked upwards towards hers. "Because up until that moment I had no idea what love was." It was so simple and yet spoke volumes to her. "I love you, Rin." He leaned in now and gave her a chaste kiss.

"I love you too," she answered after receiving the kiss. They lay there for several moments enjoying each other's presence before Rin asked him another queston. "Have you read your letter since the ceremony?"

"Hm?" he said in a questioning way. Tearing himself away from her he got up and cross the room to a set of small drawers. From one of the drawers he took out a rather crumpled set of papers. He stood there reading it for a couple of minutes before folding it and putting it away. Sesshomaru then took a seat on the bed on where he had been laying. "We will have to go in hiding three hundred years from now."

Rin now leaned up propping herself up with her elbow. "I already knew that, but is there anything else we need to know?"

He now turned his body fully in her direction and ran his hands along her arm that was not propping her up. "We will be very happy together." He gave her a genuine smile before leaning in to kiss her more passionately.

--

_500 Years in the Future_

Rin gently pat her six month old daughter on the back trying to burp her. Sesshomaru entered the room and gave her a kiss on her cheek before telling her, "I need to go out for an hour or two." Rin gave him a disheartened look because she always worried about him when he went out in public. Most of the time they rarely left their penthouse apartment because it was difficult to disguise Sesshomaru's pointed ears, markings, and claws. "My mother is still here, so if you need anything you can ask her." This time she glared at him for even making such a suggestion. In 500 years the former Lady of the Western Lands had not changed. She still disliked her human daughter-in-law, and she despised her half-demon grandchildren despite how much they loved her.

But Rin would be fine for the couple of hours he was away. She was now the mother of 152 children and 398 grandchildren. While most long time married couples ceased intimacy only twenty or thirty years into their marriage, she and Sesshomaru had never lost their passion for each other.

An hour later Sesshomaru walked into the apartment and kissed her passionately. When he released her she gave him a worried look. "Have I told you today how much I love you?" That only caused Rin to become slightly more worried.

"Where were you?" she questioned him.

"Do you not remember what today's date is?" he then questioned her. She shook her head, so he answered her, "Your birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. This year you will be 518 years old and also 18 years old." Rin gasped as she realized what his important task was. He leaned in giving her a kiss again before saying, "And you look like you haven't aged a day."

--

The end.


End file.
